UBS Believes Apple's Problems In China 'Likely Overblown Near Term'

Although the news garnered a lot of attention during Friday's session, it seems talk of a concerning iPhone ruling in Beijing was dismissed by the sell side. Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, long viewed as the top analyst in Apple, called the ruling "irrelevant" to Apple's numbers.

At least one other analyst started off this week with comments, UBS's Steven Milunovich.

The title of the analyst's morning research note said a lot: "Problems in China Likely Overblown Near Term but Underscores Existential Threat."

The analyst pointed at two reassuring takeaways, and said, "[Apple] notes that all iPhone models are available for sale today. In comparing pictures of the 100C there do appear to be reasonable differences between the two brands."

"We have written that China is an existential threat to Apple in that the government could decide to favor local suppliers (link). However, we view this as a long-term risk," according to Milunovich.

He said he expects shares of Apple to remain range bound, but maintained a Buy rating and $115 target on the stock.