Problem with your ‘preferred’ set of analysts is that, they don’t want to acknowledge the simple fact that, Apple got to where it is now on the back of the iPHone, and that’s what I’ve been saying, and I’ll say it again. Apple is mostly dependent on the strength of the iPhone, which, sooner or later will be relegated to just being another good smartphone and not the premier phone that it’s been thought to be for the last 8 or so years. Once that happens, it won’t matter what YOUR set of analysts want people to think; the market will dictate the value of Apple on the lack of strength of the iPhone.
Basically, Apple is the “iPhone Company”, and might as well change their name again to ‘iOS Inc.”.
LOL! My set of analysts? There are about two or three out of over FORTY analysts who are consistently negative and CONSISTENTLY WRONG. These same anal-cysts are always the same two or three. . . and yet to have ever been right. These anal-cysts are hoping that one day, just by the odds, they'll be right.
Your position, as indicated by your loaded adjectives, is as usual negative on Apple.
On the contrary, AAPL grew 1200% before the iPhone appeared. Then you anti-Apple Hate Brigade members were saying it was all built on the iPod.
The facts still stands that Apple still claims 94% of ALL of the profits in the Mobile phone market with only 14% of the market share. Samsung has 9% of those profits and is dropping like a stone. Yes, that totals more than 100%, but that is because all of the rest of the mobile cell phone makers are posting losses in their race to the bottom of the barrel of commodity products that just don't sell well in price competition with each other.