Apple Inc. appears to be in an innovation rut and that’s one reason a D.A. Davidson analyst is taking a cautious view of the stock.
Analyst Gil Luria picked up coverage of Apple shares
AAPL,
with a neutral rating late Tuesday, warning that the company needs to get “unstuck” when it comes to generating exciting new things.
“While Apple has continued to introduce new form factors, especially within the wearables category, the handset and watch form factors have seemed to plateau over the last 3-4 years,” Luria wrote. “In the meantime, other innovative companies are not only introducing new form factors (e.g. AI pin, AR glasses), but also challenging the form of the handset itself (e.g. folding handsets).”
Shares of Apple have gained 47% over the past 12 months, but they’ve seen more muted performance more recently, rising about 7% over a three-month span and falling about 4% over a one-month span.
The stock saw its biggest percentage decline in four months Tuesday after a downgrade at Barclays.
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Apple’s innovation woes are particularly notable these days as the company faces stiffer competition for its bread-and-butter business. Luria notes that in China “homegrown competition has an advantage,” while in India, consumers are looking for “more compelling products” given the share of their income that they would be ponying up in order to make a big technology purchase.
Could generative artificial intelligence help ignite the next big thing for Apple? The company “is in a position to leverage an unparalleled walled garden consumer data set to provide new applications and experiences,” according to Luria, though he questions whether the company would see much traction with a hypothetical generative AI app store.
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Apple shares were down about 1% in midday trading Wednesday and on track to fall for the third session in a row.
