Mike Peterson
A new analyst is assuming coverage of Apple for investment bank Morgan Stanley, replacing the well-known Katy Huberty, who has a long track record of correct Apple forecasts.
The bank sent out a note to investors on Thursday penned by analyst Erik Woodring and his team. In that note, Morgan Stanley said that "[w]ith this report, Erik Woodring is assuming coverage of Apple, Inc."
It isn't clear why Huberty is no longer covering Apple for the investment bank, or what her new coverage will look like. The analyst still works for Morgan Stanley, it just seems like she isn't going to be focusing on Apple any longer.
AppleInsider has reached out to Morgan Stanley for comment.
Huberty is a Morgan Stanley veteran who joined the bank straight out of business school two decades ago. She analyzed a variety of technology stocks, including Apple.
The analyst has long been known to be bullish on the iPhone maker. Compared to other analysts in the field, Huberty has a much better track record of accurately forecasting the company's trends and earnings.
For example, Huberty was optimistic about Apple Silicon Macs, correctly predicting that the new first-party chips could drive a bump for the segment. She also accurately forecast sustained iPhone growth thanks to the next-generation 5G standard.
She was also a vanguard in correctly predicting Apple's continuing shift toward a Services- and subscription-based business. That's a viewpoint now shared by other analysts, including Erik Woodring, her apparent Apple coverage replacement.
In addition to her research notes to clients and investors, Huberty also frequently participated in Apple earnings calls with CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri.
Huberty's last Apple research note on record trimmed the company's 12-month price target to $180. She said that ongoing supply issues and foreign exchange rates were likely to limit June quarter upside, but maintained that Apple could still post solid growth in the September quarter.
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16 Comments
Too bad. I typically found her analyses informative.
Kathy was not only correct in her analysis of Apple, but she was a ray of sunshine and optimism is a sea of doom & gloom fires casts. She will be sorely missed!
Agree, the only one I respected & who understood Apple innately. She will be missed.
All great posts above ^^^
Nothing more to be said.
In her early years, she was consistently among the most unreasonably bearish regarding Apple, and Gene Munster, who was at Piper Jaffray at the time, was probably the most bullish. Then at a certain point (quite a while ago) after numerous embarrassing quarters she must have realized that she was grossly underestimating Apple, and she’s been pretty consistently bullish ever since, which has been a much more successful strategy. I tried to dig up some of her old comments, but couldn’t really find them, just an old Andy Zaky column bemoaning her pessimism.