Apple rises even as Barclays cuts estimates on production, demand issues
Scott Olson

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares rose fractionally in premarket trading on Wednesday even as investment firm Barclays lowered its earnings estimates, citing the company's recent production issues in China and "weakening demand" across certain hardware categories.
Analyst Tim Long, who has an equal-weight rating on Apple (AAPL), lowered estimates for the coming quarter, the next quarter and all of fiscal 2023, noting that recent checks in China and from supply chain partners were less than positive.
"What started out as production driven cuts has moved to demand weakness across product categories," Long wrote in a note to clients. "We are also concerned by decelerating Services growth. We are lowering estimates accordingly."
Long now expects Apple (AAPL) to earn $1.85 per share in the coming first-quarter, down from a previous estimate of $2.02 per share. A consensus of Wall Street estimates expect Apple (AAPL) to earn $1.98 per share on $122.95B in revenue.
For the second-quarter, Long expects the company to earn $1.37 per share in the March quarter, down from a previous view of $1.46 per share. He also lowered his full-year 2023 earnings per share estimate to $5.82, down from a previous view of $6.13.
"At a 20% premium to the S&P 500, we see the stock as fairly valued at best," Long explained.
Apple (AAPL) is slated to report fiscal first-quarter results next month.
Investment firm Wedbush Securities recently said Apple (AAPL) remains the firm's top pick for an "overlooked" tech sector in 2023.