A “Dilbert” strip once featured Dogbert coating products with a kind of dust that makes people want them for “no rational reason.” Apparently, this dust was useful with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) products, according to the strip. It may also be working on the tech giant’s stock because, despite reports that Apple is losing market share, its share price was up nearly 2% in Friday afternoon’s trading.
The word from UBS—via analyst David Vogt—was that Apple was losing market share on its iPhone line of smartphones. Sell-through data showed that the iPhone was up about 1%, compared to being up about 4% for the total smartphone market. That’s considered “soft sell-through relative to peers,” Vogt noted and represents potential trouble for Apple.
There were some positive signs, though; iPhone’s June quarter losses were at least partially made up for by Chinese sales, thanks mainly to discounting that took place during the “618 e-commerce festival.” But with Huawei making a comeback thanks to its positioning as the “patriotic” choice, among other factors, it’s still going to put pressure on Apple.
It’s worth noting that, so far, Vogt has enjoyed an 84% success rate on AAPL stock, with an average return of 14.4% per rating.
Vision Pro Sales Don’t Fare Much Better
As it turned out, though, it wasn’t just iPhones that lost ground with consumers. The latest reports suggest that the Apple Vision Pro headset won’t clear 500,000 total units sold this year. The high prices are said to be the biggest reasons keeping consumers out of the fold, though a discount model available next year may prove helpful in turning around the headset’s fortunes.
It’s not just cost that’s keeping customers away, noted IDC vice president Francisco Jeronimo. A lack of content may also have something to do with it, and Apple must ultimately keep “local content” available. Jeronimo regards this as a “crucial” step.
Is Apple a Buy or Sell or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on AAPL stock based on 24 Buys, 10 Holds, and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 22.21% rally in its share price over the past year, the average AAPL price target of $223.57 per share implies 3.56% downside risk.
