Raymond James Downgrades Apple Stock Due to Valuation Concerns

Raymond James Downgrade Rationale

• 📉 Raymond James has downgraded Apple stock from 'market outperform' to 'market perform'.
• 📌 The firm's thesis suggests that all the value is currently packed in for Apple.
• ⚠️ The downgrade comes after Apple experienced a strong second half of 2025, following a tariff standstill and growth in the iPhone 17 lineup.

Valuation and Growth Expectations

• 📊 Apple is currently trading at a 30x PE ratio, which Raymond James considers to be very expensive.
• 💡 The firm believes that the anticipated artificial intelligence upgrade in the new iPhones will be crucial for driving hardware sales.
• 📈 However, they predict this AI upgrade will only maintain the current cadence of upgrades and provide moderate growth, not the substantial growth needed to justify the current valuation.
• 💰 The AI features are expected to be a free service, similar to other AI tools, rather than a paid subscription.