Apple (AAPL) was and still is the darling of Wall Street. Sure, investors get the jitters from time to time, but sky-high price targets and big long-term bets are the norm for the world’s most profitable smartphone maker. Apple reported its third fiscal quarter results on Tuesday, and the company shocked the Street when it missed earnings expectations by a huge margin. Initial reactions were predictable — shares of Apple stock dipped more than 5% in after-hours trading on Tuesday — and now some big banks are pumping the brakes… albeit temporarily.
Price targets on Apple’s stock are dropping all over. Some analysts like Canaccord Genuity’s Mike Walkley, who lowered his price target by $3 to $797, are making minor adjustments. A number of analysts at big investment banks are being more cautious with their clients, however — Morgan Stanley cut its price target on shares of Apple stock from to $720 from $738, and Goldman Sachs slashed its target to $790 from $850.
Plenty of analysts are holding their ground as far as Apple’s stock is concerned. Noted Apple bull Brian White at Topeka Capital Markets maintains his $1,111 price target, for example, and the logic appears sound: Apple had a slow June quarter and September could be bumpy as well, but Apple’s first fiscal quarter is when the real party starts.
Of course, everyone on the planet is predicting a monster December quarter to kick off fiscal 2013 for Apple. A brand new redesigned iPhone… An “iPad mini“… new Macs… RBC analyst Amit Daryanani calls Apple’s second and third fiscal quarters the “calm before the storm,” and all signs point to another massive first quarter for the Cupertino, California-based company.
