Morgan Keegan analyst can’t read, cuts Apple price target

14 years ago

“Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt today trimmed his estimates for Apple’s fiscal Q1 ended last month, after concluding that the iPhone probably sold better than he thought, but that Amazon.com‘s ‘Kindle Fire’ tablet computer probably stole a couple of million units worth of sales from Apple’s iPad,” Tiernan Ray reports for Barron’s. “McCourt maintains an Outperform rating on Apple stock, but he cut his price target to $513 from a prior $530.”

We expect iPad revenues to generate 21.3% of revenues in the Dec. quarter for Apple, up from 17.2% in the year ago period although down from 24.3% in the previous quarter. We are lowering our unit shipment estimates for iPad in the Dec. quarter from 16 million to 13 million. Based on data from Amazon, we believe the Amazon Fire [sic] likely sold 4-5 million units this holiday season, which probably means maybe 1-2 million cannibalized iPad sales at most. – Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Amazon said they sold “over four million combined sales of the Kindle Fire and Kindle line in December, including the regular touch and e-paper models,” as reported by Electronista on December 29th.

All Kindles, including cheapo $79 black and white e-readers, combined sold “over 4 million units” in December.

That is the only “data” from Amazon that has been released. Kindle Fire was released on November 15, 2011. Unless McCourt has his own private data from Amazon (highly doubtful) which shows that multiple millions of Kindle Fire sales magically transpired during the last two weeks of November, his mistake, if that’s what it is, is blatant and criminally stupid.

If your financial analyst is Morgan Keegan’s Tavis McCourt, you have our pity and some advice: Get a new analyst; preferably one who can read.

Related articles:
Amazon claims over 4 million Kindles sold in December – December 29, 2011

Tablet display shootout: Apple iPad ‘excellent,’ Amazon Kindle Fire ‘major flaws’ – December 20, 2011
If Amazon’s Kindle Fire is so hot, why is it still in stock? – December 19, 2011
‘Kindle Fire: The Missing Manual’ author to return Kindle Fire, keep his ‘years ahead’ Apple iPad 2 – December 15, 2011
Amazon touts Kindle e-reader sales with few details – December 15, 2011
Amazon’s tiny screen Kindle Fire’s big security problem – December 14, 2011
Lack of parental controls on Amazon’s tiny screen Kindle Fire lets kids charge up a storm – December 12, 2011
Disgruntled early adopters of Amazon’s tiny screen Kindle Fire have slew of complaints – December 12, 2011
Amazon’s tiny screen Kindle Fire estimated to play distant second fiddle to Apple’s market-dominating iPad – December 6, 2011
Usability expert Jakob Nielsen tests Amazon’s tiny screen Kindle Fire: ‘A disappointingly poor user experience’ – December 5, 2011
Instapaper creator reviews Amazon’s tiny screen Kindle Fire: Bad game player, bad app platform, bad web browser, bad video player and bad Kindle – November 18, 2011
PCWorld reviews Amazon’s tiny-screen Kindle Fire: Flawed, unimpressive, subpar; can’t hold a candle to iPad – November 16, 2011
Mossberg reviews Amazon’s tiny-screen Kindle Fire: Frustrating, clunky, much less capable and versatile than iPad – November 16, 2011
Apple iPad 2 vs. Amazon Kindle Fire: Bootup, browsing, and Netflix streaming (with video) – November 16, 2011
Wired reviews Amazon’s tiny-screen Kindle Fire: Web browsing sucks, emotionally draining, makes reading a chore – November 14, 2011
NY Times’ Pogue reviews Amazon’s tiny-screen Kindle Fire: Sluggish, ornery, unpolished – November 14, 2011
The Verge reviews Amazon’s tiny-screen Kindle Fire: Uninspired, confusing, incredibly unoriginal – November 14, 2011
Engadget reviews Amazon’s tiny-screen Kindle Fire: Sluggish, clunky, too limiting and restricted – November 14, 2011