Apple stock continued its brutal slide on Tuesday. It has lost 23% of its value over the past four trading sessions. Wall Street analysts waved more caution flags Tuesday as the iPhone maker deals with the Trump tariffs and other headwinds.
Two investment firms lowered their price targets on Apple stock ahead of the opening bell.
Morgan Stanley cut its price target on Apple to 220 from 252 but kept its overweight, or buy, rating.
KeyBanc Capital Markets slashed its price target to 170 from 200 and maintained its underweight, or sell, rating on Apple.
In morning trades on the stock market today, Apple stock climbed as much as 4.9% to 190.34 before retreating. But Apple ended the regular session Tuesday down 5% to 172.42.
KeyBanc analyst Brandon Nispel said his firm's tracking data suggests that Apple will miss estimates for iPhone and iPad sales in the March quarter. Those misses will be partially offset by better-than-expected Mac computer sales in the period, he said in a client note.
"Going forward, while we don't quantify tariff impact, we believe there is uncertainty," Nispel said. "The impacts of higher costs could be offset by higher ASPs (average selling prices), which, in turn, could impact demand. But there are also concerns of a broader consumer spending impact globally, as well as 'nationalism' movements regionally, that make putting out a confident estimate difficult, though we remain below consensus (estimates)."
Significant Headwinds For Apple Stock
Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring said near-term headwinds for Apple remain significant. The Trump tariffs on China, where Apple manufacturers most of its iPhones, risk unlocking the bear case for Apple stock, he said in a client note.
However, Apple has "several mitigation efforts at play," Woodring said. Those responses could include producing more iPhones in India and increasing handset prices in the U.S.
To recoup the cost of the Trump tariffs on China-made iPhones, Apple would have to raise retail prices by 29% on those handsets, investment bank UBS said Monday. For iPhones made in India, retail costs would have to go up 12%, UBS said.
Morgan Stanley's Woodring reduced his price targets on more than a dozen tech hardware stocks, citing the impact of the Trump tariffs. Others getting lower targets included Dell Technologies, Garmin, HP, Logitech and Sonos.
Follow Patrick Seitz on X, formerly Twitter, at @IBD_PSeitz for more stories on consumer technology, software and semiconductor stocks.
