Apple’s stock (AAPL) looks like a good buy on weakness, argues one strategist.
“We actually bought Apple over the last couple of weeks. I mean the name has come down tremendously. So I think you can go in and buy that name. They have such a strong balance sheet and they have a tremendous cash position,” said Crossmark Global Investments chief markets strategist Victoria Fernandez on Yahoo Finance Live.
To be sure, Apple’s stock hasn’t been immune to the broader pullback in tech stocks this year amid fears of rising interest rates and the geopolitical risk from Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Shares of the tech giant are off by 13% year-to-date. The stock is down about 15% from its 52-week high.
This week, the stock took a fresh hit on new COVID-19 lockdown concerns coming out of China.
One of Apple’s largest suppliers Foxconn has temporarily halted operations as the Chinese government looks to contain a new COVID-19 outbreak. It’s unclear when operations will restart.
Wedbush tech analyst Dan Ives told Yahoo Finance Live the shutdown is of “concern,” and could crimp Apple’s production by 1% to 2% this quarter.
Despite the angst, Apple bulls on Wall Street remain out in full force. A new wrinkle to their investment thesis is the upcoming debut of the cheaper iPhone SE.
“We believe the launch should be a notable tailwind for Apple, which we think could ship >35M units in the phone’s first year. At a blended average selling price of ~$450 or modestly higher given a higher base price, shipments at that volume could generate an additional ~$15-20 billion in annual revenues (approx. ~4-5% of total sales). Assuming standard product operating margins, it could contribute ~25-30 cents to EPS (~4-5% of total EPS),” said Evercore ISI tech analyst Amit Daryanani in a note to clients this week.
The analyst reiterated an Outperform rating and $210 price target on Apple.
Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.
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