Loop Capital has downgraded its outlook on Apple stock and cut its price target to $330, saying the company is unlikely to recover iPhone shipments it has lost. Apple's staggered release schedule is making the forecast harder to pin down.
Analyst Ananda Baruah lowered Apple's rating from Buy to Hold and reduced the price target from $370 to $330. Loop first attributed the cuts in production plans to memory and processor shortages, and initially expected Apple to recover many of the lost shipments in 2027. Supply chain checks changed that view. The firm now believes Apple will not replace the 13 million iPhone shipments removed from its second-half 2026 plans, and estimates planned shipments for the September and December quarters fell by roughly 10%. It now expects 79 million shipments in the December quarter, compared with Wall Street's overall estimate of 85 million.
Loop also lowered its average iPhone selling price forecast for the rest of 2026, from $1,239 to $1,123. For 2027, it raised its annual shipment forecast to 260 million but cut the expected average selling price from $1,235 to $1,096. As a result, projected iPhone revenue falls from $315 billion to $285 billion, despite the higher shipment figure. Loop also cut its 2027 earnings-per-share forecast from $10.11 to $9.76 and warned that rising memory costs could hurt profits.
The forecast is complicated by Apple's unusual 2026 release schedule. The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max launched in September, the foldable iPhone Duo reaches customers on October 23, and the standard iPhone 18 is not expected until early 2027. With fewer models available in fall 2026, shipments could decline even if consumer demand holds steady. JP Morgan made a similar argument in an October 12 assessment, linking lower December-quarter expectations to the split launch schedule.
Source: AppleInsider · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing