Shares of consumer electronics giant Apple (AAPL) suffered a steep selloff in recent days, wiping $200 billion U.S. off its market capitalization, after China banned government workers from using the company’s iPhones.
The decline in Apple stock, which has fallen 7% since news broke of China’s iPhone ban, looks to be taking a pause today (September 8) with shares up a slight 0.1% in premarket trading.
In the wake of the selloff, several analysts on Wall Street have been revising their forecasts and price predictions on Apple’s stock, though most continue to hold “buy” ratings on the shares.
J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM), for example, lowered its price target on Apple’s stock to $230 U.S. from $235 U.S. previously but maintained its “overweight” (buy) rating.
The turmoil comes as Apple prepares to launch its new iPhone 15 on September 12, a potential catalyst that may help the stock to rebound.
Apple needs the iPhone 15 to be a worldwide hit with consumers as recent financial data has shown declining sales across all the company’s devices, which also include the iPad and Mac computers.
Despite this week’s slide, Apple remains the world’s most valuable publicly traded company. Apple is the only stock to have achieved a $3 trillion U.S. market capitalization.
Over the last 12 months, Apple’s stock has risen 15% and the company’s shares currently trade at $177.56 U.S.
