“Wall Street analysts cut their price targets and estimates on Apple Inc. on Wednesday following the company’s second fiscal quarter report, citing worries about later product introductions and a continued squeeze on profit margins,” Dan Gallagher reports for MarketWatch. “On the company’s conference call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company was looking forward to “some amazing new hardware, software and services that we can’t wait to introduce this fall and throughout 2014.” But the company also projected that gross margins would remain below 38% for the June period.”
“‘Ultimately, we are more worried about secular gross margin pressures — particularly on the iPhone,’ wrote Toni Sacconaghi of Bernstein Research, who cut his price target on the stock to $600 from $725 and predicted that ‘in the near term, Apple’s stock might continue to be choppy,'” Gallagher reports. “At least 21 brokers cut their price targets on Apple’s stock following the report, with the average reduction at about 12%, according to data from Thomson Reuters. Current targets range from $400 to $880, while the median has slipped from about $568 to $540.”
Gallagher reports, “Gene Munster maintained a $688 price target and overweight rating on Apple’s shares. He said he expects many on Wall Street to reset their estimates following the report, which may give room for the stock to start seeing some upside.”
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