Jefferies Flags App Store and Google Ad Risks for Apple (AAPL)

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is one of the AI Stocks in Focus on Wall Street. On January 26, Jefferies analyst Edison Lee lowered the price target on the stock to $276.47 (from $283.36) while maintaining a Hold rating. The firm believes AAPL’s long-term growth is capped due to slowing App Store growth and Google ad revenue risk.

According to the firm, Sensor Tower data showed AppStore revenue grew only an estimated 7% in Dec Q, which marks the slowest growth in the last seven quarters.

AAPL has corrected 13% from its peak on Dec 2, driven by signs of slowdown in service rev.

The firm also sees a risk of slowdown in Apple’s Google-related advertising revenue to high single-digits. While the firm has trimmed its service revenue growth estimates, it keeps its hardware forecasts unchanged.

Even so, Jefferies anticipates a slight beat, of around 3%, in upcoming results due on January 29 despite the firm’s fiscal year 2026 and 2027 estimates only in line with consensus.

“At 2.4x PEG we believe the stock will likely be range bound."

Apple is a technology company known for its consumer electronics, software, and services.

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