iPhone 15 sales are slow, and Barclays expects the same for Apple’s next generation of smartphones

Apple loses 2% in premarket trading on Wall Street. Barclays downgrades its recommendation, already not very optimistic, from “online weight” to “underweight” at the start of the year, with a target of $160, which implies a 17% decline in Apple’s share price. compared to the end of December 29.

At $192.53 a share, the iPhone maker ended the year less than 3% from its record high on Dec. 14 and very close to the $3 trillion market capitalization threshold first crossed in June.

British banking analyst Timothy Long explains that data from distribution channels point to low sales volume for the iPhone 15 and the absence of commercial recovery for Mac, iPad, iPod and Apple Watch.

He believes iPhone 15 sales have been mediocre since its release in September and expects iPhone 16 sales to follow the same path.

Smartphones alone account for slightly more than half of Apple’s revenue, ahead of services (App Store, iCloud, Apple TV+, iMessage) which account for 22% of activity.

Timothy Long does not expect growth of more than 10% in the services division this year.

A fall in Apple’s stock market would make things easier for Tesla

“Expect a (stock market) reversal after 2023, with Apple shares outperforming while the company has missed expectations in nearly every quarter”warns.

Nevertheless, the analyst consensus remains mostly positive, with 34 buy recommendations from banks and independent research firms out of a total of 53 opinions, to target a median price target of $199.50. The most pessimistic analyst, Warren Lau of Aletheia Capital in Hong Kong, expects Apple shares to fall 35%.

If that were the case, all things being equal, Microsoft would once again become the world’s largest capitalization, and Apple would fall to third place behind Saudi Aramco.

Tesla, currently valued at $790 billion, is not going to stay in eighth place in the world rankings. Its hard-nosed boss, Elon Musk, took to Twitter on Saturday to confirm his prediction that the company he runs will become the world’s largest by capitalization, provided that “For the next five years, things are running smoothly. » A sign that was first prophesied by Elon Musk during the presentation to analysts of the manufacturer’s accounts for the third quarter.

I stand by my prediction that if Tesla performs extremely well over the next 5 years, the long-term value could exceed Apple and Aramco combined

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 30, 2023