Analyst: Apple Just Had Its Worst February Ever

Unfortunately, it’s another sour day for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). Shares participated in broad market losses, and shed as much as 1.3 percent in morning trading on Monday. Besides general sensitivity to the ebb and flow of investor sentiment — on edge after last week’s historic highs — negative catalysts could include a note from an analyst at Topkea Capital Markets, which suggests that February Apple Monitor sales missed the mark, and came up short.

Final February sales figures for the firm’s Apple Monitor “fell by 31% MoM and much worse than the average 8% decline over the past seven years. Since the timing of Chinese New Year can negatively impact sales in February, we also calculated the average February performance when excluding a January Chinese New Year, which equates to down 15%. Either way, the Apple Monitor came up short this February and delivered the worst February we have on record.”

What’s more, supplier checks in Taiwan indicate that sales are down 25 percent, month over month, also the worst February on record. Regardless of any sales dip, Topeka Capital maintains a Buy rating on the stock with an $888 price target, which is pretty much the most bullish position any analyst has on the stock. The mean target of 45 brokers is just $627.69 per share, still an impressive 45.39 percent upside on Apple’s March 8 closing price. The analyst noted that his price target equates to a straight price-to-earnings ratio of “just over 15x our CY13 EPS estimate, and is well below the mid-20x’s multiple of 2006-2010.” Apple is currently trading at a P/E of 9.67.