View this article at: http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/09/05/apple.shares.down/
Friday, Sep 05, 2008 2:45pm
Analysts 'underwhelmed' by Let's Rock event
Shares of Apple stock have continued to drop for the past two weeks, ahead of Tuesday's "Let's Rock" iPod event. New Macs on the horizon may lift the stock in the months ahead however. Barron's reports that analysts are warning that the Sept. 9 event may be 'underwhelming', with a new iPod Nano and slightly redesigned iPod touch at a lower price-point. New Macs are not expected for the Sept. 9 event and investors have been unimpressed with the rumored iPod releases.

American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu expects the Tuesday announcements to be "somewhat underwhelming," predicting the redesigned iPod Nano and a slimmer iPod touch with lower prices.

Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi is also expecting redesigned iPod Nanos and a less expensive, modestly redesigned iPod touch. Sacconaghi and Wu are both forecasting new Mac laptops for the holiday season, though neither expects the Macs to arrive Sept. 9.

Sacconaghi is positive on Apple long-term, maintaining a $175 price target for Apple's stock, claiming that Apple's prior forecasts for lower gross margins (30%) are likely too low. Sacconaghi is predicting a 32 percent gross margin, which is the Wall Street consensus. He thinks the Mac and iPod margins would have to drop unrealistically to reach a level where Apple's gross margin would fall to 30 percent. Sacconaghi is maintaing a Market Perform rating on Apple's stock.

Apple's stock has fallen nearly six percent this week, and over nine percent in the past two weeks. Apple is down more than a dollar in today's trading, currently down $1.09 at $160.13.