Jefferies Sinks iPhone Estimates as CEO Tim Cook Ties Income to Apple Stock Price

June 24, 2013 by Jon C. Ogg

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is seeing its woes continue on both Wall Street and what is expected from Main Street. On the heels of word that CEO Tim Cook is tying his compensation more to the price of Apple stock, now estimates for iPhones are being slashed on Wall Street. Jefferies lowered its target price to $405 from $420 and lowered its expectations for iPhone shipments.

Before getting too concerned here, Peter Misek of Jefferies only has a Hold rating, which is being maintained. The target downgrade today reflects that iPhone shipments will be 27 million this quarter rather than 30 million. The large cut comes in the following quarter, where projections are down to 45 million from 50 million. Sales expectations were down more than 4% to $36.6 billion for the quarter, but fourth-quarter sales estimates were cut by 5% to $48.3 billion.

On the Apple stock impact, earnings are being taken down to $7.02 per share from $7.64 per share, and the key fourth-quarter estimates were trimmed to $10.58 from $11.45.

The biggest issue is that Apple has just dropped below $400 on its stock price again. Shares are down more than 3% at $398.62 in late-morning trading on Monday, and the stock has traded in a range of $385.10 to $705.07 over the past 52-weeks.

If Tim Cook is really going to hoist his future on the price of Apple stock, he just took a pay cut.

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