Despite some positively horrific news for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) on its MacBook front, Apple still managed to notch up fractionally in Wednesday morning’s trading. A new report from analysts noted that MacBook sales are down. Substantially down. Worse, it’s a safe bet that the downtrend will continue for some time to come.
The word comes from Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities, who noted that MacBook sales fell to about 17 million total in 2023. That’s a drop of around 30% against 2022’s totals, and it’s not likely to improve. In fact, once the initial burst of demand for the new 15-inch MacBook Air that came with back-to-school shopping died down, there was little sign of life for demand in that sector. Kuo further noted that there would be no new products in the fourth quarter—perhaps a particular misstep given the holiday shopping season—and shipping momentum would be likewise down with it.
So what happened? Why the sudden outpouring of malaise for the new MacBook lineup? In a word, or rather a letter and a number: M3. The new M3 chip from Apple will not make any appearances in the MacBook Air line for the rest of this year, and quite a few customers are waiting for the new chip to upgrade their MacBook presence. There’s more to the story than just a chip, however; Ming-Chi Kuo points out that the work-from-home crowd is putting out less demand for the MacBook Air, and consumers in general are a little less supportive of both Apple and mini-LED than they were previously.
Is Apple a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on AAPL stock based on 20 Buys and nine Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average AAPL price target of $207.51 per share implies 17.14% upside potential.
