Apple Inc. found itself a new bear when Barclays Plc analysts downgraded the company’s stock due to concerns of weak demand for its most recent iPhone. Tuesday’s 3.6% decrease in shares was the largest percentage drop in a single day since September, and it resulted in the loss of about $107 billion in market value.

Tim Long-led Barclays analysts lowered their price target and rating of Apple to $160 from $185.64, compared with the stock’s closing price on Tuesday.

“We expect reversion after a year when most quarters were missed and the stock outperformed,” the analysts wrote in a note on Tuesday. “Our checks remain negative on volumes and mix for iPhone 15, and we see no features or upgrades that are likely to make the iPhone 16 more compelling.”

Apple’s market value reached $3 trillion last year as investors bet that the company’s namesake product would weather a weak economy, driving its shares to a record high. However, with growing rivalry from companies like Huawei Technologies Co. and a crackdown by the Chinese government on devices created outside, questions have surfaced about whether the stock would be able to repeat such substantial increases.

As a result of the recent underweight, Apple has five “sell” or comparable ratings compared to 34 “buys” and 14 “holds,” per data gathered by Bloomberg. The consensus recommendation for the company, which represents the ratio of buy, hold, and sell ratings, is 4.08 out of five, the lowest it has been since October 2020. Over the following year, the average analyst price prediction suggests a mere 7.5% return.

After Barclays downgraded the iPhone manufacturer because to concerns that demand for its goods would remain poor in 2024, shares of Apple suppliers tumbled on Wednesday in Asia.

During early trading on Wednesday, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company had a decline of over 2%. TSMC is a leading manufacturer of the most cutting-edge CPUs available, serving clients like Nvidia and Apple.

Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Technology Group, a significant Apple supplier, saw a 1.33% decline. Apple’s iPhones are assembled by Taiwan-based Foxconn, the largest contract electronics manufacturer in the world.

Technology and chip stocks tumbled more than 2% for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, and dragged down 1.85% on the South Korean Kospi was LG Electronics, which sank 1.78%.

“We’re seeing that suppliers are still seeing robust growth on the iPhone 15. We’re in the middle of a supercycle,” said Ray Wang of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research on CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia.”

“There’s still 200 to 300 million iPhones that get replaced onto 5G, at least for the next 24 months, so I’m not sure exactly the downgrade on growth, but on valuation, I can understand maybe that’s where the hit will be,” Wang told CNBC on Wednesday.

Barclays downgraded Apple’s shares to underweight on Tuesday and lowered its price estimate from $161 to $160, citing disappointing sales of the iPhone 15, which suggests that there will likely be less demand for the iPhone 16 and other goods. On Tuesday, Apple’s stock finished 3.58% down.

“We are still picking up weakness on iPhone volumes and mix, as well as a lack of bounce-back in Macs, iPads and wearables,” said analyst Tim Long on Tuesday, in a note to clients.

In a research published on January 3, UBS stated that TSMC was “poised for a strong rebound in 2024” and upheld its buy rating, even though it had lowered its price objective from 760 Taiwan dollars to 750 Taiwan dollars.

“We think TSMC is in a sweet spot for growth over the next 18 months from its very high share on 4-nanometer and 3-nanometer and leverage to builds on cloud AI plus positioned to benefit from any rise in edge AI lifting large endpoint markets of PC, smartphone and IoT,” said UBS.

(Adapted from CNBC.com)