Apple: Millennials are loading up shares despite waning iPhone demand

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• Apple stock is down 19% from its October 3 peak in the wake of waning iPhone demand.
• Investors on Robinhood, a free-trading app popular among younger traders, have been snapping up shares.
• Apple is the favorite stock among Robinhood traders, and the first stock to pass 200,000 owners on the app.
• Watch Apple trade live here.

Apple has fallen out of favor with Wall Street, tumbling 19% from its recent peak of $233.47 set on October 3.

But investors on Robinhood, a no-fee trading app popular among younger traders, seem to be betting on a shift in momentum. 

The recent selling was triggered by waning iPhone demand. In November, Apple reported underwhelming iPhone sales and said its holiday quarter would be on the low end of expectations. It also decided to stop posting unit sales for iPhones, iPads, and Macs.

And this week, a handful of iPhone suppliers, including the main Face ID technology provider Lumentum and iPhone radio-frequency chip supplier Qorvo, cut their outlook, citing a drop in demand from one of their biggest customers while not specifically name Apple.

“We see growing risk of even softer iPhone unit demand, with downside in China, India and other emerging markets, where Apple may need to start considering lower price points,” the Guggenheim analyst Mark Cihra said in a note sent out to clients on Wednesday. He downgraded Apple to “neutral” and removed his prior $245 price target.

That followed similar comments out Tuesday from Goldman Sachs, which said “end demand for new iPhone models is deteriorating.“

With Apple trading at its lowest level in almost three months, millennial investors are snapping up shares. According to data from Robinhood, Apple is the most popular stock on the platform, with 202,066 investors currently holding the stock, up 2,845 from last week.

It’s the first time a stock has passed 200,000 owners on the app.

Also, Robinhood data shows that Apple is consistently among millennials’ favorite stocks, and outranked all the others in eight of the past nine weeks on the app. 

Apple is up 10% this year.

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