Apple Stock Price: Research Shows Fund Managers Think Company May Underperform In 2017

Now may be a good time to ditch your shares of Apple. According to an analysis published by investment bank UBS, financial experts around the world are indicating they may think Apple is going to underperform its expectations, according to a report from Business Insider.

The research from UBS found fund managers at a number of firms are underweighting Apple’s stock, holding a lower percentage of the company in their portfolios than Apple’s overall weighting in most index funds.

This typically happens when investors believe a stock is going to underperform the market.

The lack of faith from fund managers may come as a slight surprise given many financial firms are relatively high on Apple. Its stock sits at just below $117, and analysts including Citi, Cowen, BMO, Longbow, and a number of others all have marked the Cupertino company to improve its position over the next 12 months, according to data from Markets Insider.

Fund managers were hurt in the past by underweighting their hold in Apple stocks; a report from Morningstar indicated funds that underweighted Apple compared to broader market indexes in 2014 were the most likely to underperform their peers.

However, Apple is coming off a somewhat difficult year for the company. It suffered its first sales decline in 15 years when it reported its earnings in October, and its new MacBook Pro was panned by some critics and not recommended by Consumer Reports following a number of tests that found failures with its battery.

Apple also suffered its first considerable consumer failure in some time with the Apple Watch, which saw a steady drop off in sales following its initial availability. The wearable was down 71 percent in sales during the third quarter of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015, according to a report from the International Data Corporation.

The company caused controversy when it ditched the headphone jack on its iPhone 7, forcing users to adopt wireless headsets or start using adapters that limited the phone’s ability. While the change may not have been as damaging as some thought, it wasn’t alleviated by the ongoing delays to Apple’s own wireless AirPods.

Despite its numerous struggles throughout 2016 that may indicate a stock drop in 2017, Apple did manage to finish the year on a strong note, topping all other tech manufacturers in new devices activated during the holiday season.