For many years now, Apple (AAPL 2.48%) stock has been a favorite of individual and institutional investors alike. For most of its recent history, analysts have been bullish on the tech giant's shares too.
However, there are always those whose views run counter to the conventional, and one such contrarian just reiterated his bearish take on Apple stock in a new research note. Could he be right?
A bear in a field packed with bulls
The rare Apple bear in question is Thiago Kapulskis from the Brazilian financial services company Itau-BBA. On Monday, Kapulskis published an update of his Apple view in which he continued to rate the stock an underperform (sell, in other words) with a price target of $162 per share. That implies a 4.3% downside over the next 12 months from the current share price.
The analyst's new note on the company came a day after tech sector research firm IDC published its latest data on smartphones. The report was not favorable for Apple, as IDC found that shipments of its iconic iPhone fell by roughly 10% year over year in the first quarter. Compounding that, Apple lost its crown as the top smartphone purveyor in the world, sliding to the No. 2 spot behind its archrival in the segment, Samsung.
In his note, Kapulskis wrote that "this is a demonstration that momentum remains weak for Apple."
More than just a phone maker
In the same note, however, the Itau-BBA analyst pointed out that the IDC data makes it more important that Apple develop and sell an iPhone loaded with some useful artificial intelligence (AI) features.
If any company is capable of harnessing AI effectively in a device, it's Apple. Even if it continues to be something of a laggard in handsets, we should remember that the company is more than just the iPhone -- its revenue from services has been growing, at times impressively, and it's doing well in other product niches too. I've been a shareholder for some time now, and I'm not discouraged by the smartphone sales slump. I remain an Apple bull.
