For Apple, It's 'Macro Macro Macro!'

Apple Inc. AAPL is being reviewed by every Wall Street analyst imaginable on Wednesday. From Piper Jaffray to Macquarie, the company's revenue and product shipment misses were the catalyst behind shares' downward move under $100.

Nomura's Jeffrey Kvaal got into the action as well, lowering his price target from $145 to $135 while maintaining a Buy rating. Kvaal also cut his fiscal year 2016 EPS guidance from $10.73 to $10.51, explaining that "the soft [coming] March quarter" is to blame.

Kvaal also trimmed his fiscal year iPhone unit forecast to 230 million from 234 million.

"Macro Macro Macro!" were to blame, he added. "Apple highlighted, repeatedly and perhaps excessively, macro and FX headwinds are pressuring March iPhone units." First quarter "sell through" declines of about 5 percent and "strong ASPs" suggest a "modest challenge" with the iPhone 6s, but nothing too major.

Neutral On VMware

The firm also commented on VMware, Inc. VMW, which is down significantly after lowering its guidance on Tuesday night and announcing the departure of its CFO.

"While the company remains the leader in the server virtualization market, the risk of increasing competition from container technologies, uncertainty around customer buying
patterns, slower growth, and increasingly penetrated end market, and a changing of the shareholder structure with the Dell acquisition of EMC create some concern," Nomura's Frederick Grieb warned.

Grieb lowerd his price target on VMware to $60 from $70.

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Posted In: Analyst ColorLong IdeasNewsAnalyst RatingsMoversTechTrading IdeasAppleVMware
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