Apple down after analyst says revenue may miss guidance

Apple (AAPL) is falling after Jefferies analyst Peter Misek reduced his price target on the stock to $420 from $500, lowered his first quarter sales estimate for the company to $41B and warned that the company's first quarter revenue could come in below its guidance range. Apple's guidance usually proves to be quite conservative, but Misek sees a 25% chance that the company's first quarter revenue will come in below its guidance range of $41B-$43B. Misek lowered his estimate for iPhone sales during the first quarter to 35M units from 37.5M, as he estimates that only about 25M iPhones will be built this quarter. The remainder of the iPhones that will be sold this quarter will be obtained from inventories, the analyst explained. Meanwhile, the new features of the upcoming iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 may not cause demand for Apple's smartphones to increase, and the upcoming "low-cost" iPhone may be too expensive for most consumers in developing markets, wrote Misek. The analyst maintained a Hold rating on the shares, which fell $4.50, or 1%, to $430 in mid-morning trading.

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