Apple's Margin Cushion Faces a Memory-Chip Reckoning as Wall Street Splits
Published on 11/15/2026 at 04:10 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Wall Street's research desks are pulling Apple in opposite directions, and the disagreement runs deeper than the usual bull-bear divide. Bernstein analyst Mark Newman reaffirmed an "Outperform" rating and a $380 price target on Thursday, casting Apple as a safe harbor while AI-linked equities sell off. KeyBanc, by contrast, kept an "Underweight" rating with a $250 target the same day, pointing to soft spending data. The stock added 0.7% on Friday to close at €323.25.
The split comes as Apple's fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 results — reported November 2 — showed revenue of $114.5 billion, up 12% year over year, with diluted earnings per share of $2.10, a 14% increase. Gross margin came in at 47.9%, and Apple disclosed that customs refunds contributed roughly one percentage point of that figure, explicitly flagging the benefit as part of the reported margin at the time of publication.
That cushion, however, is already giving way to a tougher outlook. CEO John Ternus warned during the earnings presentation that rising memory-chip costs would weigh on gross margin in the holiday quarter. Apple guided to a December-quarter gross margin of 45% to 46%, with the forecast folding in both the higher memory expenses and costs tied to Siri AI. Reuters reported on November 3 that investors were uneasy about supply-chain uncertainty and artificial-intelligence spending, attributing the immediate post-earnings slide to Apple's warning that climbing memory costs would pressure gross margins.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Apple?
Sentiment on the sell side is not uniformly negative. China Renaissance upgraded Apple to Buy from Hold on Wednesday, with analyst Jack Zhou setting a $425 target — a more constructive stance than the firm had previously taken.
Legal risk is also back on the docket. Epic Games asked the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday to uphold a finding that Apple was in contempt of court, according to MLex, in the long-running App Store dispute and a civil contempt finding. The court has scheduled oral arguments for January 11, 2027.
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