Apple (AAPL) App Store Announcements to Have Limited if any Impact on EPS - Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty reiterated an Overweight rating and $168.00 price target on Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) noting several App Store headlines that may be causing confusion with the investor base:

1) the settlement of a lawsuit with Cameron et al, which allows developers to communicate with their customers about alternative payment options outside of their iOS app, and expand the number of price points available to developers from <100 to >500 (developers will continue to set their own prices)

2) the passing of the South Korea Telecommunications Business Act, which will ban app store operators (i.e. Apple and Google) from forcing
developers to use their online payment systems

3) the launch of an anti-trust case against Apple (over in-app payments) at the Competition Commission of India

4) an update to the App Store that will allow developers of "reader" apps only (reader apps provide previously purchased content or content subscriptions for digital magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music and video) to include an in-app link to their websites for users to set-up or manage an account (i.e. circumvent the App Store for subscriptions), which closes an investigation by the Japanese Fair Trade Commission, though changes were made globally

The analyst sees the announcements "as having minimal financial impact to AAPL - 1-2% of EPS in a worst case scenario."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Apple click here. For more ratings news on Apple click here.

Shares of Apple closed at $156.69 yesterday.

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