Credit Suisse cuts near-term Apple iPhone sales estimate, but stays bullish
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Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will likely sell 7M fewer iPhones in Q1 of fiscal 2023 due to China production issues, Credit Suisse said Friday based on channel checks.
But the sales backlog will shift to Q2, analyst Shannon Cross said in a note, keeping her Outperform rating on the stock with a price target of $184.
AAPL edged up 0.3% in premarket trading.
Credit Suisse cut the forecast for Q1 iPhone sales by 7M to 69M units. It kept revenue unchanged at $121.66B and cut EPS by 8% to $1.92 from $2.09.
Based "on our channel checks and input from our Asia team, we believe Apple's production issues at the Hon Hai factory in Zhengzhou will reduce F1Q23 revenue and EPS, with resulting backlog benefitting F2Q23 results," Cross said. "With low retail availability persisting, we think the weaker units are a supply rather than demand issue, although iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus demand appears underwhelming."
"This mix shift to the higher end is consistent with our thoughts from the launch and reflects Apples strategy this cycle to move customers up the line-up."
Apple partner Foxconn just ended its closed-loop iPhone system at Zhengzhou.