JPMC Lowers Apple Stock Target, iPhone Shipping Estimates

JPMorgan lowered its target for Apple Stock from $235 down to $233, and gave it an overweight rating, according to reports.

It also lowered shipping estimates for Apple iPhones for Q2 through Q4 by 4 percent, to $139.5 million in total. The forecast for calendar year 2020 and ‘21 were only “modestly” reduced, but according to that window there’s still shipment growth for the year.

In other Apple Stock value news, Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives said a deal to end the trade war between the United States and China could bolster Apple stock and bring it back to the $1 trillion market value area, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The resolution could potentially push the stock to a $25 increase per share, which would be 13 percent higher than the $194.15 a share that Apple closed with on June 13.

Apple hit the $1 trillion mark in August, although it dipped under that in November. A deal between the two countries would “would take away the primary China risk which is a dark cloud over the stock now,” Ives said. Ives added that he thinks the stock is still compelling and that Apple is the safest bet among the FAANG stocks from antitrust repercussions.

If things go the other way — as in more tariffs on Chinese goods — Ives said it would be “potential game changer” for the company in terms of the cost of making iPhones, since it would limit its ability to produce them.

Also, Apple’s former general counsel Bruce Sewell recently said the deal to make Google the default search engine for Safari on iPhones and Macs is worth billions and took about four months of daily negotiations to complete.

“The Google negotiation for example, between Apple and Google over search, probably took us four months,” Sewell said, adding that he was “meeting almost every single day” with Google CEO Sundar Pichai and also with Kent Walker, general counsel for Google.