Apple's concerns deepen as it is downgraded by investment banks for the second time this week.

Apple has become the least popular large tech stock on Wall Street, with concerns about Apple's sales leading to its second downgrade this week, exacerbating analysts' pessimism towards Apple.

On Thursday, Harsh Kumar, Chief Analyst at Piper Sandler, downgraded Apple's rating, citing a weak macro environment that will suppress demand for Apple. It is worth noting that Kumar has been bullish on Apple for the past three years.

In a report, Kumar stated:

We are concerned about smartphone inventory, and the growth rate of unit sales has peaked. We have downgraded our rating on Apple from "overweight" to "neutral" with a target price of $205, representing an approximately 11% upside from Wednesday's closing price.

Prior to Kumar's downgrade, Apple was downgraded more severely by Barclays, warning of a cooling demand for Apple. Barclays analyst Tim Long and his team downgraded Apple's stock rating from "hold" to "underweight" in their latest report. This is the first time the bank has downgraded Apple to this rating since 2019, and they slightly lowered Apple's target price from $161 to $160, representing a approximately 13% decrease from Wednesday's closing price.

According to compiled data from the media, Apple has become the least recommended large tech stock after 2024. Piper Sandler's downgrade further reduced the company's buy-equivalent ratio, reaching a three-year low for the proportion of analysts who are bullish on the company.

In the past four quarters, Apple is the only large tech stock that has experienced revenue contraction. According to the average analyst expectations compiled by the media, Wall Street currently expects Apple's revenue growth rate for the fiscal year 2024 to be only 3.6%, with a profit growth rate of 7.9%.

Apple had accumulated nearly a 50% increase last year, but in the first few trading days of 2024, it has been on a continuous decline. The stock has already fallen by 4.3% this year, with a market value shrinkage of nearly $130 billion. It fell nearly 1% in pre-market trading on Thursday. It is currently on the edge of breaking through the oversold zone, and the decline is expected to continue for the fourth consecutive trading day.

It is worth noting that while Wall Street is almost unanimously bullish on large tech stocks, it is particularly cautious about Apple. The stock has only received 33 "buy" recommendations, while Amazon has received 68, Meta and NVIDIA have received 66 and 59 bullish ratings, respectively.