The boy who cried wolf has been driven out of town. After shouting for years that Apple is doomed and that the company's stock would collapse, analyst Adnaan Ahmad has been let go from his position at German Berenberg Bank, as reported by Philip Elmer-Dewitt at Fortune.
You might remember Mr. Ahmad from such Apple Death Knells as #68, where he laid out a price target of US$60 for $AAPL in February of this year. He later upped his target to $85, but maintained a "Sell" rating on the the stock. Apple's stock is admittedly down since then, closing out Monday at $106.82 per share, down $1.21 (-1.12 percent).
Mr. Ahmad has been predicting that iPhone sales would collapse, and that Apple's margins would collapse—just like Nokia's. He has furthermore warned that Apple's share of the high end smartphone market couldn't grow any more.
All of those things have yet to bear out, of course, and Mr. Ahmad has the singular honor of being the most wrong in Mr. Elmer-Dewitt's list of analyst price targets.
Which is perhaps why Berenger let him go. The bank didn't issue a statement, but Mr. Ahmad notified some folks that he had (been) parted ways with the institution. It will be interesting to see where he lands, and if he covers Apple when he does so.
*In the interest of full disclosure, the author holds a tiny, almost insignificant share in AAPL stock that was not an influence in the creation of this article.