Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) investors were hoping that the stock implosion would end this year, but now they will be hoping that the stock price does not fall to two digits. On Tuesday, the share price of the iPhone maker declined by yet another 2.5% or $2.64 to close at $102.71 – the lowest closing price since August 2015.
Apple faces a different question now
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock was once a hot-selling item, but now it is nearing the $100 level, and bulls are hoping that this threshold will finally hold. Since October 2014, Apple’s stock has not closed below $100. Currently, shares are down 24% from their highest price last year. The shares are down 2.2% already this year following a 4.6% decline in 2015.
Up to now, there was much talk about Apple becoming the first $1 trillion company, but now the over-enthusiasm in the stock has turned into disappointment resulting in epic losses for investors. The stock is now headed in the other direction and that too really fast.
On April 28, 2015, the stock hit an all-time high of $134.54 (split-adjusted), and since then more than $176 billion in shareholder wealth has been destroyed. Apple’s market value currently is $573 billion. Earlier, everyone was wondering how high Apple’s stock can go, but now the worry is how low it can go.
What triggered AAPL decline?
Yesterday’s decline was triggered by a Bloomberg report which cited Japan’s Nikkei Asian Review for a report that the iPhone maker was considering a 30% cut in iPhone production in the first quarter of 2016. Also there are reports that a Chinese provincial capital has promised Foxconn – an Apple supplier – subsidies of around $12 million to minimize layoffs. This further intensified investors’ concern that demand for smartphones continues to mature.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) relies on the smartphone business for a major portion of its profits, thus, a difficult smartphone market comes as bad news for investors. Apple has designed some new products and services to diversify its revenue, such as its Music service, Apple Pay and the smartwatch, but unfortunately, none could catch on with consumers as the company expected.
However, Apple bulls believe some of these new products and services will help the company report sales traction in the time ahead. Now all eyes will be on Apple’s quarterly numbers, which the company will unveil at the end of this month.
