Apple Relinquishes Historic $3 Trillion Crown As Sales Fall
(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc.'s market value fell below the historic $3 trillion level after the iPhone maker's outlook for the fourth quarter sparked worries over tepid demand for its handsets and other gadgets.
Shares in the California-based company dropped 3.6% on Friday, resulting in a market capitalization of $2.88 trillion. The day's decline, Apple's largest since January, represented a drop of more than $120 billion in lost market value.
In its report, Apple posted its third straight quarter of declining sales, and predicted a similar performance in the current period.
Rosenblatt Securities downgraded the stock to neutral, saying the mixed report “highlights the slowdown phase in which Apple now sits.” Even though the company's Services business is accelerating, “a slowdown in the U.S. seems likely to last until a material new product category takes hold.” Analyst Barton Crockett sees this prospect as “uncertain both in timing and success, leaving little reason to favor shares now trading near peak absolute and relative multiples.”
Apple's valuation has been a concern for investors. The stock trades at more than 28 times estimated earnings, a premium to both its own history and the overall market.
The reaction to Apple's results wasn't uniformly negative, and Citi is optimistic about where it goes from here. The firm placed Apple on a 90-day upside catalyst watch ahead of its expected iPhone 15 series release in September.
Apple in June became the first company with a $3 trillion value. The shares have gained 42% this year amid a broad tech rally on investor hopes that the development of artificial intelligence could provide a fresh boost to growth.
--With assistance from Farah Elbahrawy.
(Updates to market open.)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.
-
Signature Play: The Classic Cocktail Is Dead. Or Is It?
Classic cocktails are disappearing from India's cocktail menus. But they're still being ordered, taught to bartenders and borrowed from. So, who's really having the last drink?
-
A New Samvat Wishlist: Inclusive Prosperity And Human Development
India has strengthened its economic foundations through infrastructure, digital access and enterprise. Its next growth chapter must deepen productivity, create better livelihoods and widen participation in prosperity.
-
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha: The Audacious Plot To Spy On Jensen Huang
A Taipei dinner, a Singapore chip buyer and a suspected Chinese asset: inside the alleged spy operation that got close to NVIDIA's Jensen Huang.
-
Ten Things I Learnt This Samvat
Patience can be a trap. Cheap stocks can stay cheap. Leverage can wipe you out. What did Samvat 2082 teach us? Niraj Shah writes on 10 lessons from the year gone by.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
