Apple Analyst Responds to Bearish Thesis

Earlier on CNBC, Apple

analyst Ed Zabitsky appeared to present his bearish thesis on the tech giant. (Read about Zabitsky's thesis

) Benzinga contacted Raymond James' Tavis McCourt on the matter. McCourt currently has a Strong Buy on Apple. McCourt stated that while he agreed with the basic logic of Zabitsky's thesis, he said that it remained a what-if scenario. If Apple were to cease making products that generated strong user demand, it would most certainly face declining margins. However, McCourt stated that at the present time, Apple still dominates the carriers and is able to get high subsidies for its phones. As of evidence of this, Sprint

committed a large amount of capital in a deal that saw the third-largest carrier in the US finally getting the phone. He also noted that the carriers have been trying to get Apple's subsidy costs down for years. He stated that Verizon Wireless

basically created Google's

Android OS and even tried to push the Blackberry Storm

years ago. Apple has been successful with all the challenges the carriers have thrown at it, and nothing presently suggests that this will change soon.