Analysts Are Bailing on Apple Stock

"We expect a meaningful guide lower when the company reports on Thursday night, on the order of $5 to $6 billion compared to consensus revenue estimates," Long says.

While the global iPhone user base is still growing, Long says users are keeping their devices longer, a trend that could continue in 2018 if the next model iPhones are not particularly impressive. He also says Apple may finally be losing its iPhone pricing power.

"Following 10 years where [average selling prices] have generally moved higher, we believe prices will plateau as with the rest of the industry," Long says.

BMO has downgraded Apple stock from "outperform" to "market perform" and lowered its price target for the stock from $199 to $162, but there are other analysts who still see Apple as a solid investment.

Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan says Apple's long-term future is more dependent on its Services segment than its hardware sales.

For me, a smart phone (regardless of make) is a useful tool, but it is not the only tool, and it is not the best tool for every job.

Composing text (which I do a lot) on a phone is an ordeal. For that, I need my desktop computer. A finger swipe on a tiny screen is no substitute for the accurate positioning you get with a good multi-button mouse and a large-format monitor.

I’m also kind of the same mind on Windows. MS should have just stopped at Windows 7 and improved on that, until there was a -real need- for a newer version.
The way it is, when you go from Win 7 to Win 10 you lose functionalities. It’s dumbed down to near uselessness other than in sending your info to MS to data harvest.

Hey don't get me distracted. I agree completely on this. I have been using Microsoft products since 1983. Previously maligned Windows versions such as ME and Vista and the various CE, Pocket, Mobile and Phone versions never caused me any difficulties. But this transition into Windows 10 from my perspective has been a very irritating and depressing adventure. It sends me off on a rant every time that I think about it.

I do not know if Satya Nadella, Microsoft's CEO is truly responsible for this shift from “software company” to “service provider” meme, but I don't like anything about this latest paradigm. We have all been turned into a bunch of renters just waiting for the next mandatory update which we have basically no control over. If you are happy with Windows 10 this week just wait until next week when you are trying to actually get something tangibly accomplished...

You hit the shutdown button so that the battery won't go dead while you are on the road and you get the message to not shut off your computer because windows has now decided without warning to install some updates. If you decide to ignore this Microsoft warns on their website, “Restarting/shutting down in the middle of an update installation may cause serious damage to the PC.” We are given no control over this process and most of the updates have no noticeable affect on anything other than to strengthen Microsoft's control over your device and your life.

But if it were not for Microsoft's hubris Apple would most likely have never become the giant that they are. And we most likely would not have the plethora of Linux variations as well... Although one thing that I have noticed is switching your devices from Windows 10 to an alternative in most cases is not nearly as easy as it once was.

Pretty much have to go with all your points.

Also, I think MS has somehow got it into their heads that user just want something to post pictures of lunch of Facebook and maybe do some texts. So they dumbed Win down.

The Apple-envy became evident on Win 8 with the icons replacing the start bar - until the start bar was brought back in 8,1.

I’ve purchased several refurbs last year that had Win 10 installed in them, I replaced those with Win 7.

If MS hasn’t come up with something sensible by the time Win 8.1 reaches it’s end of support. I’m good to go with Linux.

Ideally I’d like to see MS produce a “Windows Classic” version, a base model that incorporates functions up to 8.1, while they also produce whatever *they* want people to use.

Likely won’t happen, tho.

Ideally I’d like to see MS produce a “Windows Classic” version, a base model that incorporates functions up to 8.1, while they also produce whatever *they* want people to use.

I like that idea, but it does not go along with Microsoft's current corporate strategy. Operating systems were never meant to be the guardians of the universe from malware in all its ugly forms. But that is the primary reason given for the necessity of accepting all of these frequent and mostly unnecessary updates that often cause more difficulties than they solve.

If the update isn't solving an issue that I am currently having or adding a feature that I want, then I don't want the update. That disqualifies something North of 97% of all the updates using bandwidth and slowing down people's computers. Most of the time when people call me for problems that they are having with their computer... there is something related to a problem with a recently installed or installing update.

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