There is no rest for the Apple-weary.
Shares in the highest-valued public company continued their three-month slump yesterday after two Wall Street analysts said sales of its popular iPhone 5 and iPad may be slowing.
UBS analyst Steven Milunovich said his checks with Apple suppliers in Asia revealed production was being curbed.
“Our previous growth estimates seem aggressive,” he said in a report that lowered his Apple price target to $700 from $780.
And just like that, Apple shares slipped 3.8 percent on the day, to $509.79 — pushing the Cupertino, Calif., company down 27.4 percent from its Sept. 19 high.
Over that time, Apple’s value has fallen by more than $180 billion — or more than the market value of all of Wells Fargo.
Milunovich also said Apple would sell 155 million i-Phones next year, not the 170 million he expected. He also predicted 88.9 million iPads would sell next year, not the 93 million he first forecast.
The analyst identified China’s lackluster interest in the iPhone 5, which just launched there, and said the iPad Mini, with its lower price, was cannibalizing iPad sales and profits.
Despite the less-than-rosy predictions, he told investors that Apple could benefit from a partnership with China’s top telecom, China Mobile, to boost sales of the iPhone next year, and he had faith in new Apple products.
“Whether it is an iTV, wearable computers or another new product category, we have faith that innovation is not dead,” Milunovich wrote.
Also helping push down Apple share price yesterday was Jefferies analyst Peter Misek — who also raised the specter of low demand for the iPhone 5 in China.
Misek said fewer lines at retail stores for new Apple products than there were last year for the iPhone 4S didn’t bode well for the company’s future.
He reduced his iPhone sales estimates for next quarter to 48 million, from 52 million, based on his intelligence that Apple has cut orders on phone parts in the past two days.
“In the last 24 to 48 hours, component suppliers have seen large order cuts as the assembly bottleneck has not improved as much as hoped,” Misek said.
The Jefferies analyst recently lowered his price target on Apple shares to $800, down from $900.
Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray, came to the defense of Apple yesterday, saying the lack of lines for the iPhone 5 in China didn’t signal low demand.
“We believe there are three core reasons for fewer lines as compared to the 4S,” Munster wrote. “Apple implementing a reservation system to avoid crowds, double the number of points of sale compared to the 4S and increased pre-orders online.”
“We remain comfortable with our 45 million December iPhone unit estimate, including 4 to 5 million from China,” he added.