BUZZ-Apple falls after Jefferies cuts to rare 'underperform' on weak iPhone sales

Updates

Apple AAPL.O down 1.88% at $225.69 premarket

Jefferies cuts rating to "underperform" from "hold", PT to $200.75 from $211.84

Brokerage one of four with a "sell" equivalent among 47 analysts covering stock - LSEG

Smartphone shipments for AAPL and Samsung 005930.KS declined globally in December quarter due to intense competition from Chinese companies like Xiaomi - International Data Corporation (IDC)

Shipment decline points to how factors such as the absence of AI capabilities in the latest iPhones sold in China - where ChatGPT is not available - are eating into Apple's competitiveness

Jefferies, citing IDC data, says sales weakness in iPhone and consumer electronics market looks worse than expected

Expects AAPL missing its 5% rev growth target for Q1 FY25, and to forecast low single-digit Q2 rev growth

Says "AI would be unlikely to kickstart a super upgrade cycle anytime soon"

Separately, Loop Capital analyst Ananda Baruah downgrades stock to "hold" from "buy", as per thefly.com

Baruah is rated 2 out of 5 stars for estimate accuracy and 4 out of 5 stars for recommendation accuracy - LSEG

Stock down 8.2% this year, as of last close

(Reporting by Akriti Shah and Siddarth S in Bengaluru)

((akriti.shah@thomsonreuters.com))