24/7 Wall St.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was down 1% at $154.68 Tuesday, but its shares were indicated up almost 5% at $162.22 ahead of Wednesday’s open. Apple’s earnings report was deemed to be good enough after its big drop in shares, and that is despite such weak iPhone orders with a 15% drop and despite a guide-down on first-quarter revenues.

24/7 Wall St. has tracked over a dozen analyst notes after reviewing Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades following Apple’s earnings. Many analysts now have more caution toward Apple than in 2018, but the overwhelming theme here was that the lower guidance was actually better than many investors feared. Let’s say that most investors aren’t exactly used to lower revenues and lower iPhone sales.

UBS was a standout call in that it sees most of the bad news as over for a while. The firm reiterated its Buy rating on Apple and raised its price target to $185 from $180.

Wedbush Securities reiterated its Outperform rating and $200 price target, noting that the guide-down for the first quarter was actually better than the market had feared.

Also, a firm called Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated its Buy rating and reportedly has raised its target to $220 from $200 after earnings.

Here are the rest of the analyst summaries that have been seen so far on Wednesday:

• Bernstein maintained its Market Perform rating on Apple, noting that it was surprised shares traded higher after the report.
• BMO Capital Markets maintained the stock as Market Perform with a $153 target.
• Merrill Lynch maintained its Neutral rating but lowered its price objective to $180 from $190.
• BTIG maintained its Buy rating but lowered its target price to $189 from $197.
• Though Canaccord Genuity maintained its Buy rating, the target was lowered to $185 from $190.
• CFRA (S&P Global) maintained its Buy rating with a $195 price target.
• Citi maintained its Buy rating and $170 target price.
• Goldman Sachs maintained its Neutral rating.
• Maxim Group maintained its Hold rating with a $160 target price.
• Mizuho maintained its Neutral rating but lowered its target to $170 from $175.
• Morgan Stanley maintained its Overweight rating but lowered its target to $197 from $211.
• Nomura/Instinet maintained its Neutral rating but lowered its target to $170 from $175.
• Wells Fargo maintained its Neutral rating.

Apple shares were last seen trading up more than 4% at $161.87 on Wednesday morning, in a 52-week range of $142.00 to $233.47.

24/7 Wall St.
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