Even though the news that Apple fired Scott Forstall and John Browett was released on Monday, investors didn’t have an opportunity to react to the new changes in management thanks the the stock markets being closed due to hurricane Sandy.
The markets opened today for the first time all week and investors showed that they’re not feeling incredibly optimistic about Apple right now. Apple’s stock price dropped about 2.4% and was trading at $589.60 this morning, which is the lowest price the stock has seen since July.
The drop in Apple’s stock price isn’t just related to the changes in Apple’s management though. Forbes notes a few other reasons why the stock has taken a small dip, such as iPhone 5 sales falling short of the wild estimations of analysts, the Apple Maps fiasco, September quarter profits being lower than expected, and a warning from Apple that gross margins are going to fall sharply in the December quarter.
Concerns about Apple being able to maintain their competitive edge against companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft might be squashed this week once the iPad mini goes on sale. If Apple reports strong initial sales of the iPad mini after the weekend launch, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the stock price jump back up on Monday.
Source: Forbes
