AAPL downgraded on valuation concerns

Apple stock was downgraded to 'peer perform' from 'outperform' by Bear Stearns, following a string of upgrades and recent 'outperform' ratings by other analysts. The firm said the move was based on current valuation, but it maintained its estimates for the December quarter. Apple stock was down nearly 3 percent in pre-market trading. MarketWatch reports that "Bear Stearns said the valuation reflects much of the near-term optimism and is 7% above its year-end 2006 fair value, even though it's still encouraged by emerging opportunities, such as Intel-based Macs, iPod shuffle refresh and the emergence of iPod as a media platform." Piper Jaffray earlier this week maintained an 'outperform' rating on AAPL, despite the recent announcement of an iPod knockoff by Creative , noting that other companies were struggling to compete with the iPod pricing, the "cool factor" and Apple's user-friendly interface.

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