Apple hit with pair of downgrades as tariff worries grow

Chinese people visit an Apple Store, inside a shopping mall, in Beijing on April 10, 2025. Photo by AP Photo/Andy Wong

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Apple Inc. received at least two downgrades on Friday, following quarterly results that reinforced concerns over tariffs and its growth potential.

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Jefferies cut the stock to underperform, becoming one of the rare bears on the iPhone maker. While the results were in line with expectations, analyst Edison Lee wrote, “tariff impact will expand over time to create more earnings downside.”

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Apple Inc. received at least two downgrades on Friday, following quarterly results that reinforced concerns over tariffs and its growth potential. of its last close. Still, the stock has rebounded strongly from its April low, rallying about 24 per cent, the second-best performing Magnificent Seven stock over that period.

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Apple’s results showed weaker-than-expected sales in China, and that it expects US$900 million in higher costs from tariffs. The company also said it expects revenue in the current period to grow in the “low- to mid-single digit” percentage range on a year-over-year basis.

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Jefferies called this “the best-case scenario,” as it assumes the tariff on China stays at 20 per cent and no levies on imports from India and Vietnam. “These assumptions are unlikely to hold longer term, especially if there will be sectorial tariff that is non-negotiable.”

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Separately, Rosenblatt Securities analyst Barton Crockett downgraded the stock to neutral from buy.

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“We’re left with a well-run company, with OK-muted growth, a need for an exciting new product to reinvigorate growth trading at a premium multiple, in a choppy tariff and regulatory environment,” he wrote.

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Crockett added that the results highlight “a company with amazing supply chain skill, and better demand for iPhones than many had feared.” However, “there needs to be an AI driven sharp acceleration in iPhone sales” for the stock to really outperform from here, and “as time has gone on the argument for that seems to be fading.”

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Still, some analysts were impressed by the report. Citigroup analyst Atif Malik wrote that “fundamentals remain intact, and the company delivered decent results/guide in a tough tariff environment,” while he views the outlook as conservative.

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Nevertheless, the downgrades cement how Wall Street is relatively cautious on Apple compared with other megacap names. Fewer than 60% of the analysts tracked by Bloomberg recommend buying the stock, a low percentage compared with other megacaps. The downgrade from Jefferies brings the number of sell ratings to four.

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In contrast to Apple’s report, Microsoft Corp.’s results were seen as a blowout, spurring a sharp gain in Thursday’s session. That has put the software company on track to overtake Apple in market value.

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