Apple Adds a Bear as Jefferies Downgrades, Sees 20% Downside
October 3, 2025
(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. received a relatively rare bearish analyst rating on Friday, as Jefferies warned that expectations surrounding how fast customers will upgrade their iPhones had become excessive.
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Analyst Edison Lee cut his rating on the stock to underperform from hold, writing that the stock’s current valuation prices in an “overly bullish iPhone outlook.” Shares fell 0.9% on Friday.
The stock’s consensus recommendation — a proxy for the ratio of buy, hold, and sell ratings — now stands at 3.93 out of five, making Apple the least-loved of the Magnificent Seven except for Tesla Inc. Even so, bearish ratings for the stock are relatively rare. Fewer than 7% of the analysts tracked by Bloomberg have a sell-equivalent rating on the shares. Roughly 57% recommend buying, while that ratio is above 90% for Microsoft Corp., Nvidia Corp., and Amazon.com Inc.
The stock has risen more than 20% off a low hit in early August, an advance that has returned it near record levels. Despite that advance, the stock is barely positive this year, while the Nasdaq 100 Index has risen more than 15%.
Much of the recent strength has come on stronger-than-expected demand for the company’s latest iPhone, as well as optimism over an upcoming foldable model.
Lee wrote that “better demand for iPhone 17, partly due to a price cut on the base model, is already in the price,” and this “has led to excessive expectations on 18 Fold, and the replacement cycle.”
He added that it was unclear what market there would be for a phone that costs around $2,000, and trimmed his price target to $205.16 from $205.82. The stock last closed at $257.13, meaning the new target points to downside of more than 20%.
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