Apple loses $1 trillion status after soft holiday
forecast
Send a link to a friend
[November 03, 2018]
By Vibhuti Sharma and Jasmine I S
(Reuters) - Shares in Apple Inc <AAPL.O>
fell 6 percent on Friday, cutting its market value back to less than $1
trillion after it forecast softer-than-expected sales for the holiday
quarter and fueled nerves over iPhone sales by saying it would no longer
release the figures.
The dip in Apple's shares to $208.50 knocked around $67 billion off its
value, and put Amazon and Microsoft Corp <MSFT.O> back in the mix in the
race among the United States' big tech players to be the world's most
valuable company.
The Cupertino, California-based company blamed weakness in emerging
markets and foreign exchange costs for a disappointing forecast for
sales in the run-up to Christmas that are crucial to results for
consumer electronics producers.

Most analysts were still upbeat on fourth-quarter results, and there was
no obvious fallout for rest of the FAANG group of major U.S. tech
stocks. Shares in Facebook Inc <FB.O>, Amazon.com Inc <AMZN.O>, Netflix
Inc <NFLX.O> and Google-owner Alphabet Inc <GOOGL.O> all rose on a
generally buoyant Wall Street.
Eight brokerages cut their price targets for Apple, but only one - Bank
of America Merrill Lynch - cut its rating on the stock, to neutral from
buy.
[to top of second column] |

Customers walk past an Apple logo inside of an Apple store at Grand
Central Station in New York, U.S., August 1, 2018. REUTERS/Lucas
Jackson/File Photo

"Time for investors to adjust to the new disclosures," analysts from the
brokerage said. "Although the long term opportunity is significant, we expect
near term pressure on shares."
The move announced on Thursday to stop reporting unit sales data for iPhones,
iPad and Mac computer products was widely criticized, with some arguing it meant
Apple expected sales of iPhones have now peaked.
"While the company believes units are a less relevant metric, we strongly
disagree – particularly since we believe iPhone units will begin to decline y/y
as a result of higher average selling prices," Raymond James analysts said.
Apple shares were down 6.4 pct at $208.05 before the bell.
(Reporting by Vibhuti Sharma and Jasmine I S; Additional reporting by Akanksha
Rana; Editing by Patrick Graham)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |