AAPL Drops on Reports from Analysts

March 2nd, 2008 at 2:00 PM - Apple Stock Watch by John Martellaro

Appleis stock dropped on Monday, erasing recent gains, based on reports from both Banc of Americais securities analyst Scott D. Craig and RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky.

In a story at CNN Money on Monday, Scott Craig reduced his target price for AAPL from US$180 to $160 in a note to investors and indicated that production levels for iPods are being cut. His estimate for iPods sold, year over year, for the current quarter, to be down 5 percent. He characterized iPhone production as volatile and reduced his estimate to 1.2 million units.

Mike Abramsky retained his "Outperform" rating for AAPL, but lowered the target price from US$200 to $175. In his note, he cited primarily economic concerns, but also added that Appleis 3G iPhone estimated for release in the summer could rebuild momentum.

AAPL was down $6.52 in afternoon trading to US$118.50.

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In the interest of full disclosure, the author holds a small share in AAPL stock that was not an influence in the creation of this article.