Guggenheim analyst Robert Cihra downgraded Apple to Neutral from Buy and removed his prior $245 price target for the shares. The stock closed yesterday down $1.94 to $192.23. The average selling price of the iPhone has increased a "dramatic" $220, or 40%, over the past 10 years, reflecting its "growing value to both consumer and business markets," Cihra tells investors in a research note. The analyst points out, however, that nearly half of that increase came in fiscal 2018 alone. This makes a "period of digestion now likely," Cihra writes in a note partially titled "ASPs No Longer Enough." The analyst believes Apple's growth via average selling price is now "widely known." The iPhone's nearly 60% contribution to revenue and profits is "looking like a headwind again," says Cihra. Following early supply chain cuts, exemplified by Corning's (GLW) "softer" Q4 gorilla glass guidance back in October and this week's warnings from 3D sensing laser supplier Lumentum (LITE) and LCD supplier Japan Display, the analyst now estimates iPhone units will decline 5% year-over-year in fiscal 2019. He cut his fiscal 2019 earnings per estimate for Apple to $12.97 from $13.41 and revenue estimate to $273B from $281B.

Apple saw sales of its iPhones fall 19.1% in the first three months of the year, CNBC's Ryan Browne reports, citing data from Counterpoint Research. Meanwhile, Huawei saw a 69.7% surge in smartphone sales in the country during the same period, Counterpoint said. Reference Link

Welcome to "Fly Insider," The Fly's weekly recap of notable insider stock transactionsNOTABLE INSIDER PURCHASES: Significant insider purchases reported in the prior week from April 15 through April 19 include:Chairman of Ashford (AINC) Montgomery Bennett purchased 200,000 shares of company stock at $4. 91 per share... To see the rest of the story go to thefly.com. See Story Here

Apple quietly acquired Paris-based AI startup Datakalab on December 17, Challenges' David Pargamin reports. The terms of the transaction could not be learned, but European Commission has been notified of the deal, the author notes. Reference Link

Friday's total option volume of 56.7 million contracts resulted in net open interest growth of 6.01 million calls and 5.28 million puts. NVIDIA (NVDA), Tesla (TSLA), Apple (AAPL) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) saw the greatest growth. Top five new positions opened include 50k Lyft (LYFT) May-24 20 calls, 44k Energy Transfer (ET) 4/26 weekly 16.5 calls, 43k Las Vegas Sands (LVS) Sep-24 41 calls, 23k Tesla (TSLA) 4/26 weekly 162.5 calls and 21k Papa John's (PZZA) Jun-24 57.5 puts.