Apple downgraded again, this time by analysts at Raymond James
In a note, Raymond James analyst Tavis McCourt says that he's downgrading because of less-than-stellar reviews of the new Apple Watch coupled with likely seasonal slowdown of iPhone sales in the second quarter. He says the slowdown could cause investors to "overreact" like they did during the iPhone 5 cycle.
He's rating the stock "market perform," down from "market outperform." That's basically a neutral rating, down from a buy.
"Early reviews of the Apple watch suggest it will fall far short of the 'insanely great' benchmark, at least in its first iteration," he writes.
"Although the financial impact of the Apple Watch is almost immaterial near term, we are concerned that relatively muted reviews so far could place added fear in investors' minds about the company's ability to launch successful new product categories."
Meanwhile, he forecasts that Apple will only sell 215 million iPhones in fiscal 2016 compared to 226 million in fiscal 2015.
Andy Perkins at Societe Generale had the same concerns earlier this week, writing that "trouble is brewing" because he doesn't believe Apple will be able to grow iPhone sales after last year's blockbuster launch, in part because it has filled the biggest demand from users already by adding the larger screen iPhone 6 Plus.