iPhone users may delay upgrading

Article Excerpt

APPLE INC. $172 is still a hold. The company (Nasdaq symbol AAPL; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 16.2 billion; Market cap: $2.8 trillion; Price-to-sales ratio: 7.0; Dividend yield: 0.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.apple.com) gets about half of its revenue from iPhone sales. The other half comes from sales of its Mac computers, iPad tablets and other products. Apple’s revenue in its fiscal 2023 second quarter, ended March 31, 2023, fell 2.5%, to $94.86 billion from $97.28 billion a year earlier. iPhone share rose 1.5% as the lifting of COVID-19 lockdowns in China let the company increase production. It’s also selling more online services. However, lower sales of computers and tablets offset those gains. Earnings also declined 3.4%, to $24.16 billion from $25.01 billion. Apple spent $19.1 billion on share buybacks in the quarter, so per-share earnings were unchanged at $1.52. Apple will probably earn $5.87 a share for all of fiscal 2023, and the stock trades at 29.3 times that forecast. That’s…