Apple Names Ternus CEO, Jefferies Downgrades on iPhone Design Cancellations
AAPL sits 45% above its 52-week low of $225.95.
Summary
Apple appointed John Ternus as CEO with a $3M base salary and $55M target equity, succeeding Tim Cook who moves to executive chairman. Jefferies downgraded the stock to Underperform and cut its price target to $263.66 from $285.56, citing canceled 2027 premium and all-glass iPhone designs due to manufacturing yield issues. The company may raise iPhone 18 prices 10-20% as memory costs surged ~400% YoY. App Store revenue fell 1% YoY in August, the first annual drop since November 2022. Apple also faces two new lawsuits: one over ATT ad restrictions seeking ~2.5% of quarterly revenue, and a BASF patent suit over Face ID. The company cut about 150 roles at its Cupertino HQ amid a shift toward AI and cloud priorities. This follows a strong fiscal Q3 but mounting challenges including EU fines, component shortages, and China shipment declines.
At the time of this announcement, AAPL was trading at $327.70 on NASDAQ in the Technology sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $4.8T. The 52-week trading range was $225.95 to $344.57. This news item was assessed with negative market sentiment and an importance score of 8 out of 10. Source: Wiseek News.