Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL, ETR:APC) shed almost 4% on Tuesday, placing it behind Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA, ETR:NVD) as the duo continue to jostle for the spot as the world’s largest company by market capitalization.
A double whammy of news around declining iPhone sales in China and a downgrade by Jefferies on Tuesday weighed on Apple as trading got underway.
According to Counterpoint Research, iPhone sales in China fell 18.2% in the December quarter, meaning Huawei had overtaken Apple as the country’s top smartphone brand.
Declining sales overall prompted Jefferies to bump Apple from a ‘hold’ to ‘underperform’ and cut its share price target from US$211 to US$200 in the meantime.
Weak demand for artificial intelligence in newer models was also likely to weigh, the bank said, leaving Apple on course to undershoot on revenue forecasts for the first quarter.
JPMorgan analysts also cut the technology giant’s share price target from US$265 to US$260 on concerns around its outlook, but stuck with an ‘overweight’ rating.
Shares fell by 3.7% to US$221, placing Apple’s market cap at US$3.34 trillion and off Nvidia’s US$3.37 trillion.