Apple stock took another plunge yesterday, finishing down 4.4 percent. The reason for the fall is continuing concerns about the iPhone, which have caused numerous analysts to downgrade their price targets for AAPL.
It’s not just Apple that’s being affected, either. The company’s suppliers have also been hit by fears about the future of iPhone sales. Multiple suppliers associated with Apple have seen their stock prices decline by up to 5 percent as a result.
Some of the companies (as pointed out by Business Insider) include Pegatron, which declined 1.7 percent; Chinese acoustics tech firm AAC Technologies, which declined 3.7 percent; and Taiwan’s Flexium Interconnect, which dipped 3.9 percent. Largan Precision, another company that does business with Apple, dropped 3.7 percent.
North Carolina-based semiconductor company Qorvo fell 5.3 percent. Cirrus Logic closed 1.9 percent down after cutting its revenue outlook because of weaknesses in the smartphone market. Apple is, by far, Cirrus’ biggest customer — making up 82 percent of sales.
Another company that makes considerable money from Apple is Broadcom, a semiconductor company. The firm fell 4.1 percent.
Challenges ahead?
As we’ve noted before, looking at the supply chain to gauge how Apple is doing can be a fool’s errand. That’s because you’re only looking at a few data points in a much larger, more complex picture. With that said, the more companies that run into stock price-related troubles, the more it seems like there may be something to these reports.
A Bloomberg story yesterday highlighted how Apple is going into marketing overdrive trying to move iPhones off shelves. This has resulted in some distinctly un-Apple style tactics, such as advertising ways to pick up the iPhone XR at less than full price.
Apple’s not the only company in the smartphone market, of course, and it’s not the only one that’s struggling with a market that’s slowing down. However, it’s certainly bearing the brunt of investor concerns. And it’s not helped by reports like the recent one from British megabank HSBC claiming that Apple’s days of hardware growth are “broadly over.”
At time of writing, AAPL sits at $176.69, with U.S. stock markets closed Wednesday due to former President George H.W. Bush’s funeral. That’s down from the $229.28 Apple hit back in early October. The company’s market cap currently stands at slightly over $838 billion, down from the $1 trillion valuation Apple achieved in August.
Source: Business Insider
