Apple (AAPL.US) downgraded to "Hold" by Loop Capital: iPhone shipment cuts may be hard to offset, valuation at five-year high

Loop Capital has downgraded Apple (AAPL.US) from "Buy" to "Hold" due to reduced iPhone shipments, according to reports from Zhihu Finance APP. "The key point is: Apple previously cut iPhone shipments for the September and December quarters by 10%. At that time, we believed that since these reductions were due to supply-side reasons (memory and processors) rather than demand-side issues, they would have the ability to recover much (if not most) of the reduced quantity before the natural year 2027," Loop Capital analyst Ananda Baruah wrote in a report to clients. "But it now appears this is no longer the case. In addition, although this is not the main focus of our view today, we acknowledge that as memory costs continue to rise, there is downside risk to gross margins."