Apple (AAPL): Apple should be 10+ pts lower here

From Notable Calls

Morgan Keegan, one of the best research houses on the Street is downgrading Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) to Underperform from Mkt Perform.

Notablecalls: About time! I was all over AAPL when the stock was 35 pts lower. I now feel it has gone too far too fast. Needs to be at least 10 pts lower. The problems with iPhone in Europe should be weighing on the stock. Read what uber-analyst Tero Kuittinen had to say about European iPhone demand over at Realmoney.

PS: Deets (the wording is very strong):

We are downgrading our rating on AAPL shares from Market Perform to Underperform based on mounting evidence of broad-based weakness in consumer technology spending in the U.S. and Europe.

We also expect that Apple's education vertical will be more challenged this year given state and local budget issues, which combined with what appears to be a more stable component pricing environment, we believe will lead to a deceleration in growth over the next 2-3
quarters.

We are maintaining our March estimates for Apple, but slightly lowering June, Sept., and Dec. quarter expectations for both iPods and Macs based on a difficult economic environment. We are now projecting Y/Y EPS growth to slow substantially over the next few quarters. We believe the upside potential in the shares if the Mac biz continues to outperform is outweighed by the downside risk if growth begins to slow, and are therefore downgrading to Underperform.

For more calls go to http://notablecalls.blogspot.com/

You May Also Be Interested In

• Jefferies Downgrades Apple (AAPL) to Underperform
• This chipmaker is best positioned in the AI ASIC market: Mizuho
• Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (MMSI) PT Raised to $97 at BofA Securities