Analysts threw cold water on a J.P. Morgan research report that said Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has cut orders for components for its iPad tablet by 25 percent, affecting vendors in its supply chain and potentially iPad sales. The criticism of the report, which included some from a J.P. Morgan analyst not involved in the earlier report, said that the research was flawed.
The initial report said that, according to supply chain vendors in Asia, Apple cut its orders by a quarter, the first time it has ever done so. The report said that reducing the component orders could mean a drop in iPad shipments from 17 million in the third quarter to 13 million in the fourth quarter.
However, a string of analysts took issue with the main conclusions of the report, which at one point Monday sent Apple's shares down 3.2 percent. "Apple is fine," J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz wrote in a separate report later, adding that he maintained his projection that Apple will sell 10.9 million to 12 million iPads in its current quarter.
Chris Caso, an analyst at Susquehanna International Group, said the "chatter" from the original report was "misleading." Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, said changes in component orders could be the result of Apple moving some iPad production out of Asia to Brazil, according to Bloomberg.
"We disagree with any talk of a shipment slowdown," analysts at Barclays Capital wrote in a report. "The numbers being circulated Monday might be related to components and not to actual iPad 2 shipments, in our view. Components checks (are) not a good proxy for actual iPad product shipments."
Apple sold nearly 14.8 million iPads worldwide in 2010 and another 12.6 million in the first six months of 2011. A new iPad model is expected sometime early next year.
For more:
- see this Bloomberg article
- see this AllThingsD article
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