Morgan Stanley Stays “Overweight” on Apple, But Drops Target to $180
21 JULY 2022 - Conscious that last month - even a great month in China - does not a future make, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty has once again trimmed her 12-month price target on Apple shares. Apple 3.0 ran part of a Wednesday note from the analyst. On the upside, demand stayed strong for Apple gear through the June-quarter. Additionally, “with China on the path to reopening (good for supply and demand),” she and hers think “revenue growth will likely accelerate to mid-to-high single digits in the September quarter.”
That said, Team Huberty expects comments on next week’s earnings call to be guarded. Plus, “with high-income consumer sentiment flashing signs of caution,” and “a strong USD causing Apple to hike prices in some international markets,” she thinks the Street might be expecting too much from Apple for fiscal year 2023.
Not that she’s off it. Far from it. Quoting her note:
…Apple remains a best of breed consumer electronics company able to invest through cycles, and with 60%+ of revenue more staples-like in nature, strong brand loyalty, and continued product/services innovation, we believe it is better insulated relative to peers during a downturn…
But her previous 12-month price target of $185 apparently felt a little high. She’s kept her firm’s “Overweight” rating on Apple shares. The price target’s down five-dollars though. It sits now at $180.
Morgan Stanley Stays “Overweight” on Apple, But Drops Target to $180
Listen Up!
Expect the flurry of notes to continue into next week. Apple earnings for the June-quarter - the third quarter of fiscal year 2022 - are due in one week from today. Numbers for last quarter will hit Apple’s site after the close of trading at 1:30 Pacific/4:30 Eastern on Thursday 28 July. About a half-an-hour later, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Apple CFO Luca Maestri, and various financial analysts will do the conference call thing. That goes off at 2PM/5PM. You can hear that as it happens on Apple’s Investor site. Apple will make it available as a podcast soon after. And - of course - we will recap the call here on Friday.
