Josef Lang Capital Management Initiates Coverage on Apple (AAPL)

TSIM SHA TSUI, Hong Kong - Oct. 3, 2014 - PRLog -- Joseph Lang Capital Management began covering Apple stock on Monday, and kicked things off with a note to investors projecting a $139 target price with a recommendation to buy.

Josef Lang 's price target implies an expected return of about 37 percent from AAPL stock. The firm noted that shares of Apple slid a few basis points on a "correction" that began on July 21, which put it in line with past corrections in its own history, as well as those of its peers.

Year-over-year growth at Apple is expected to rally in the last quarter of 2014, which Josef Lang believes would set the company's stock on course for the $139 price target.

But that price is also 11 percent below the consensus price target for Apple on Wall Street. That's because Josef Lang believes that the risks for Apple "are increasingly coming into focus."

"We assert that Apple's share of the smartphone market is at risk from low-end smartphones and competition from other ecosystems," they wrote. "We see upside from tablets, but this negatively impacts (gross margins)."

Rather than have a lead analyst assigned to Apple, as most other investment firms currently do, Josef Lang has opted to take a "unique team approach" in its Apple coverage. That strategy involves semiconductor analyst Aaron Li, software analyst Walter Hobbs, and hardware analyst Jim Silva.

"This reflects Apple's broad impact to the technology supply chain and allows us to uniquely follow the company from several industry angles," Josef Lang explained in a note to investors on Monday.

For further information on Apple Inc (APPL) as an investment opportunity, please visit: www.josef-lang.com or send an email to: info@joseflang.com. If you are an existing client of Josef Lang Capital Management, please contact your advisor.