Apple shares close lower on Tuesday, price target on the stock raised at Jefferies on optimistic iPhone sales outlook

Jefferies raised its 12-month price target on Apple Inc (AAPL) from $260 to $285 and also maintained a ”Buy” rating on the stock, as sales of the latest iPhone may turn out to be “better than feared.”

Apple shares closed lower for the fifth time in the past fifteen trading sessions on NASDAQ on Tuesday. It has also been the steepest daily loss since October 2nd. The stock went down 2.31% ($5.76) to $243.29, after touching an intraday low at $242.58, or a price level not seen since October 24th ($241.81).

Shares of Apple Inc have added 54.23% to their value so far in 2019 compared with a 21.14% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2018, Apple’s stock went down 6.79%, thus, it underperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 6.24% loss.

According to the investment bank’s analysis of customer traffic for Apple Inc and its US carrier stores, there has been a 37% rise in foot traffic on the launch day of iPhone 11. This compares with a 32% rise in traffic during the disappointing launch of Apple’s iPhone XS in 2018.

“We think this is a strong indication that iPhone performance will come in ahead of conservative Street expectations for the September quarter”, Jefferies analyst Kyle McNealy wrote in a note to clients.

“We now see potential for ‘better than feared’ iPhone 11 performance (the last all-4G cycle) building a nice bridge to 5G,” McNealy added.

The bank expects iPhone sales to outperform the median analyst estimate of 190 million units for the year 2021 as a result of differentiated 5G products.

Apple is expected to report quarterly results today.

Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation

According to CNN Money, the 39 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Apple Inc’s stock price, have a median target of $242.14, with a high estimate of $289.00 and a low estimate of $150.00. The median estimate represents a 0.47% downside compared to the closing price of $243.29 on October 29th.

The same media also reported that at least 20 out of 43 surveyed investment analysts had rated Apple Inc’s stock as “Buy”, while 15 – as “Hold”. On the other hand, 5 analysts had recommended selling the stock.