KeyBanc analyst: Apple iPhone demand has ‘potential for ongoing weakness’

Eric J. Savitz for Barrons:

KeyBanc analyst Andy Hargreaves today repeated his Sector Weight rating on Apple stock, while trimming his estimates for both earnings and iPhone sales.
He writes in a research note that checks with supply­ chain partners find that orders for iPhone components in the second half are down by 10 million units compared with a year ago. Hargreaves adds that there is “potential for ongoing weakness” through the sales cycle of fiscal 2020 (ending September), given “relatively modest hardware updates, stagnant global demand, and the potential for ongoing impairment to demand in China.”
He has a fair­ value estimate of $195… Hargreaves trimmed his EPS forecast for fiscal 2020 to $12.61, from $12.85, and now sees iPhone unit growth for the fiscal year at 2%, down from a previously projected 5%. His revenue forecast for the fiscal year drops by $5 billion to $263 billion. Street consensus revenue and EPS estimates for fiscal 2020 are at $268.8 billion and $12.65, respectively.

MacDailyNews Take: Meanwhile, AAPL rises on renewed optimism over U.S.-China trade talks and 2020 looms large with the Mother of all Super Cycles, thanks to iPhone 5G. Apple somehow just has to get through the 2019 iPhone cycle creatively. We wouldn’t bet against a post-warning and now fully-focused Apple C-Suite.