New Street Research, the United Kingdom-based telecommunication and technology sector research firm, has warned investors to get out before tech giant Apple’s shares tumble as its flagship iPhone sales are likely to see a decline, a CNBC report said.

New Street Research analyst Pierre Ferragu downgraded Apple Inc from neutral to sell in a letter to its investors. The research firm has recommended its investors to get out before the stock falls despite Apple earning nearly $48 billion in iPhone sales for its fiscal second-quarter beyond the $41.7 billion it had projected. With these numbers, Apple beat analyst’s estimates with a healthy margin.

The iPhone 12 sales were higher as they had betted on 5G network expansions across the world. The expansions across the world have not been up to their expectations and this could significantly slow down to the second half of the calendar year, New Street Research predicted.

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The next line-up of iPhones would lack innovation. Due to this, new customers and upgrades will not match up. The research firm has predicted shipping of iPhones would be in the range of 180 million to 200 million which is nearly 20 percent below the projected earnings for 2022.

Another US research firm Wolfe Research has given a sell recommendation with the Apple stock currently having 18 buy ratings and five hold ratings. Apple is one of the most loved stocks on Wall Street. New Street Research slashed the target on Apple by 28 percent to $90 a share.

Coincidentally, New Street Research had also dropped its rating for Apple to sell a few years ago.

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On the other hand, Luca Maestri, CFO of Apple warned investors in April the revenue decline is likely to be steeper than usual due to supply constraints, global semiconductor shortage, and partly due to the global pandemic.

The shares of Apple were 0.4 percent lower in early trading on Friday to change hands at $124.77 each. With this recommendation, it could extend the stock’s year-to-date decline to around 6 percent.

(Edited by : Jomy Jos Pullokaran)