Downgrades to Apple’s shares leaves another tech firm ready to become top U.S. public company،
Apple is the most valuable publicly traded American company in the world, with a valuation of $2.9 trillion. But recently, Wall Street hasn't been very positive about Apple. On the first trading day of the new year, Barclay analyst Tim Long said there was nothing compelling about the iPhone 16 series that could reverse what he sees as a downward trend of iPhone demand. As a result, he changed his rating on the company's shares to “Underweight” while lowering the price target from $161 to $160.
As ridiculous as it sounds, this is a code used on Wall Street that tells institutional traders to sell Apple. Nobody likes to say “sell” because Wall Street companies fear it will disrupt the business – in this case, Apple – and cost them business when Apple needs a money-banking company. investment to sell more shares or help with a takeover. Piper Sandler followed, with analyst Harsh Kumar cutting his rating on Apple to neutral.
The hat trick ended Wednesday morning when Redburn Atlantic's James Cordwell also downgraded Apple to neutral, but he kept his price target at $200. He cut his rating on Apple due to concerns about declining iPhone sales, combined with concerns about regulatory agencies in the U.S. and abroad going after the App Store. Year to date, Apple shares have fallen 91 cents, or 0.49%, to $186.19.
Microsoft could soon overtake Apple to become the most valuable publicly traded US company
Analysts' lack of love for Apple has allowed Microsoft to overtake Apple as the most valuable publicly traded U.S. company. Including the $7 that Microsoft added to its stock price on Wednesday, Microsoft shares are up $9 or 2.41% year to date. This rally brought Microsoft's market capitalization (or stock price times the number of shares outstanding) to $2.84 trillion. Microsoft is worth about $600 million less than Apple and has the momentum it needs to topple Apple from its precarious position atop the valuation charts.
Over the past year, Microsoft shares have risen $147, or 62.4%, to $382.77. Apple shares have risen $52.70 or 39.5% over the past year and closed Wednesday at $186.19 in regular trading.
