Wall Street analysts weigh in on tech giant Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and action camera maker GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO). While one analyst believes Apple stock is extremely oversold at the moment following a soft June quarter outlook, the other believes GoPro’s drone launch is too little, too late. Let’s take a closer look:
Apple Inc.
Drexel Hamilton analyst Brian White was out today with a research note on Apple, reiterating a bullish stance on the stock. However, White acknowledged that all the companies within his “Apple Monitor” (i.e, a basket of Apple suppliers in Taiwan) portfolio have reported weak April sales, compared to historical averages. White rates Apple stock a Buy, with a price target of $185, which implies an upside of 99% from current levels.
White noted, “April sales for our Apple Monitor were down 9% MoM and weaker than the average flat performance over the past eleven years. We believe this weakness reflects the incremental $2 billion inventory reduction in 3Q:FY16 that Apple recently discussed.”
In explaining his positive Buy rating White stated, “Given the extreme pessimism engulfing the stock as Apple enters the final stages of this iPhone 6-series cycle with a sales/operating profit cycle expected to trough in 3Q:FY16 based on our model, and a stock that is trading at a depressed 7x our CY:17 EPS estimate (ex-cash), we believe Apple is extremely oversold.”
According to TipRanks.com, which measures analysts’ and bloggers’ success rate based on how their calls perform, analyst Brian White has a yearly average return of 6% and a 47.7% success rate. White has a 18.5% average return when recommending AAPL, and is ranked #282 out of 3904 analysts.
Out of the 51 analysts polled by TipRanks, 39 rate Apple stock a Buy, 9 rate the stock a Hold and 3 recommend a Sell. With a return potential of 41%, the stock’s consensus target price stands at $130.95.
GoPro Inc
Piper Jaffray analyst Erinn Murphy commented in GoPro following her firm’s attendance of the XPonential 2016 Summit, a forum which focused on the drone market. The analyst believes GoPro “could have a tough time” in the drone market for many reasons. The analyst notes that competitors DJI and Parrot have found that “developing a drone autopilot is not easy ad typically takes 2nd and even 3rd generation models to develop a bug-free drone.” The analyst also believes that pricing could be an issue for the company when it launches the Karma drone in the holiday season. Murphy states that providers of major commercial drones have displayed price reductions of between $400 and $500 and also highlights increased competition in terms of promotional activity. The analyst elaborates, “Our perspective is that GoPro is unfortunately ‘too late’ in launching the drone on the commercial side to achieve a more premium margin profile.”
The analyst comments on the delayed launch of the Karma drone from the first half of 2016 to the holiday season. Murphy believes that the delay resulted from the company’s desire to further enhance the product, rather than from supply chain issues. The analyst expresses concern regarding the delay’s impact on retailers who were hoping to receive the product on time. She states, “We worry that GoPro’s delay may have disrupted retailers’ plans who had intended to have the product earlier.” In addition to reseller worries, the analyst points to a recent survey of teens who indicated that drones are not a priority in terms of consumer electronics, falling in last place on the gift wish list of the teens surveyed. The analyst points to a $2 billion market for drones this year, of which DJI has over 50% of market share. However, the analyst believes that if GoPro could take 8% share in this market share in the first year, it would result in $160 million on an annual run rate.
The analyst reiterates her Underweight rating on the company with a $6.50 price target.
According to TipRanks, out of all the analysts who have rated the stock in the past 3 months, 30% are bullish, 20% are bearish, and 50% remain neutral. The average 12-month price target for the stock is $11.25, marking a 15% upside from where shares last closed.
