Apple Cedes Market-Cap Throne To Nvidia Again As Bearish Analyst Takes Weigh, But Retail Gets Some Confidence Back

Barclays cut its price target for Apple stock to $183 from $184, attributing the revision to its expectation for an in-line to a bit softer December quarter.

Apple Cedes Market-Cap Throne To Nvidia Again As Bearish Analyst Takes Weigh, But Retail Gets Some Confidence Back

The Apple, Inc. (AAPL) rally in late 2024 petered out after the stock hit an all-time high of $260.10 on Dec. 26. A negative demand outlook, particularly for its flagship iPhone device, has been blamed for the predicament. 

Apple’s pain has become a gain for artificial intelligence (AI) stalwart Nvidia Corp. (NVDA), which has regained the crown as the most valued global company. The latter’s push to the top spot was primarily due to the Donald Trump administration’s resolve to buoy the AI industry.

Apple Vs. Nvidia

Apple’s market cap dropped to $3.35 trillion on Wednesday afternoon, trailing Nvidia’s $3.61 trillion.

Nvidia previously overtook Apple in valuation briefly in June and November 2024. However, a year-end rally in Apple stock restored its lead.

APPL VS NVDA market cap.png

Chart Courtesy of Koyfin<

Since then, analysts have turned bearish on Apple, citing weak China data and a sluggish rollout of Apple Intelligence features as key concerns.

DBS Bank became the latest to downgrade Apple stock to ‘Fully Valued’ from ‘Hold’ and assigned a price target of $210. 

Meanwhile, Barclays cut its price target for the stock to $183 from $184, attributing the revision to its expectation for an in-line to a bit softer December quarter. The firm has an ‘Underweight’ rating on the stock.

Earlier this week, Jefferies analyst Edison Lee downgraded the stock to ‘Sell’ with a $200.75 price target. The analyst expects Apple’s December quarter revenue growth to miss the 5% guidance, and the March quarter guidance to be sub-par. 

Market research firm Canalys’ estimates showed that Apple’s 2024 China iPhone shipments fell 17% year-over-year (YoY) to 42.9 million iPhones and the company’s market share in this key market eroded by four percentage points.

Apple stock could remain under pressure until its fiscal year 2025 first-quarter earnings report is released on Jan. 30.

On the other hand, Nvidia stock has taken off in recent sessions as traders baked in a favorable AI spending and regulatory environment under the new president. 

After rolling back AI regulations announced by former President Joe Biden, Trump announced on Tuesday a $500-billion private investment for AI infrastructure buildout across the country.

Nvidia rallied over 4.50% on Wednesday. to a two-month high. 

Apple Wooing Back Retailers

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment toward Apple stock improved to ‘extremely bullish’ (79/100) from the ‘extremely bearish’ mood that prevailed a day ago. Message volume toned down to ‘high’ levels. 

aapl-sentiment.png AAPL sentiment and message volume January 22, 2025, as of 2:47 pm ET | Source: Stocktwits

Some on the platform see the time is ripe to buy the stock following its recent weakness.

Others pointed to technical reasons to buy the stock, flagging that it is oversold for the first time since March 2024.

Apple stock changed a little at $222.65 in the afternoon session. After the 31% rally in 2024, the stock has lost about 11% so far in January. 

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.<

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