Barclays believes investors need to exit Apple, one of last year's winners, as 2024 begins. The bank lowered its rating on the tech giant from equal weight to underweight. The company also lowered its price target for the stock from $161 to $160. The new forecast suggests a downside of around 17% over the next 12 months. Analyst Tim Long cited weak sales of Macs, iPads, wearable devices, and the iPhone as reasons for the downgrade. Apple shares fell 1.7% in premarket trading after the call. ”[iPhone 15] “Other hardware categories should continue to be weak, and we don't expect services to grow more than 10%,” Long said in a note Tuesday. Long said he expects a reversal after a year of mostly unsuccessful quarters and stock outperformance, but said multiple expansions and successive underperformances are “not sustainable.” , added that next year will be more risky for services businesses, including Apple. Apple's fourth-quarter results showed that although revenue and earnings per share exceeded analysts' expectations, overall sales declined for the fourth consecutive quarter. The S&P 500 has posted strong gains this year. Other members of the group are Nvidia, Meta Platforms, Alphabet, Tesla, Amazon, and Microsoft. All seven of his companies rose last year, with Nvidia soaring 3x his and Meta nearly 200% his. Tesla doubled, while Amazon and Alphabet rose 80% and 58%, respectively, and Microsoft rose 56.8% AAPL .SPX 1Y Mt. AAPL and SPX over the past year Apple surged 48.2% in 2023, 2020 This was the largest annual profit since then. An upset among the seven member countries could put pressure on the S&P 500 Index, which soared 24% in 2023.





