Apple stock drops 12%, trips short-sale circuit breaker

“U.S. stocks rose on Thursday after encouraging U.S. economic data, but Apple Inc. pressured the Nasdaq Composite after the iPhone maker’s quarter results spooked investors,” Polya Lesova reports for MarketWatch.

“Apple shares [AAPL] sank 11%, making the company the top decliner in the S&P 500. The tech behemoth late Wednesday reported first-quarter sales that fell slightly short of Wall Street targets, while iPhone sales were on the low side of expectations,” Lesova reports. “The decline for Apple hit the Nasdaq Composite, which dropped 14.5 points, or 0.5%, to 3,138.80.”

Read more in the full article here.

Laura Mandaro reports for MarketWatch, “Apple Inc. shares dropped 12% at the start of trading Thursday, triggering a stock exchange circuit breaker designed to slow short sales of falling stocks. Shares of the company, the largest by market capitalization on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, traded at $453.27, off $60.74 from $514.01 Wednesday.”

Read more in the full article here.

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    1. You must stop buying stocks when they are high and rising but instead buy stocks when they are low and rising. It is simple. Sell when they are high and buy when they are low. I bet you just sold AAPL didn’t you?

  1. Apple releases the best phone in the world, stock declines rapidly, Apple announces best quarter EVER and tops tech history, and stock falls again. What is wrong with people? Apple should just buy back all it’s stock and become a private company. I’m sick of all the negativity when they are the best company out there and they are one of the only companies that make products I love to have and have to have.

    1. I totally agree with you. It would be great if they went private and kept ALL the profits to themselves and had more time to innovate rather than having to report to shareholders about having the best quarter and shareholders take a dump on them. Outrageous.

      1. Shareholders and public ownership are not the problem. Automated trading, the freedom to buy shares with money you don’t have and to agree to sell shares you don’t hold are the problem. If Wall Street is going to operate as a casino, we need to fire the SEC and put it under the control of the Nevada Gaming Commission.

  2. The problem right now is that you get screwed if you actually try to “invest” for the long term. A stock like Apple is being driven entirely by traders. To a certain extent, it was unavoidable when the market cap got to where it was, just because you needed the trader’s additional money to drive the price to where it was. Now the traders are all bailing out at once. Hopefully a lot of them bought near the top and lost their ass. They deserve it.

    The stock is a buy for anyone who actually believes in the company.

    1. Most of their cash is overseas so it is not possible to buyback that much.
      The buyback was to cover options so that the overall stock number does not increase and dilute the value of the shares.
      Even if Apple were to buyback $50B, it would only reduce the share count by ~10%. I can’t see how that would help. The share price may rise a bit in the short term but market sentiments would come into play soon enough.
      Increasing dividends could help. The current dividend equates to 2.3% interest at the current rate. Increasing it to 4% would be attractive to long term investors.

      My bet is that Apple will do nothing. Except for their employees options this has little effect on their business. The market is set up to make money for those in control and Apple is the perfect stock to work with. Apple do not need the market for their success and to be honest I don’t think they are that bothered about their shareholders.

      1. Great response, I totally agree. Only, Apple probably correctly surmises that its interests as a company run counter to their shareholders, and they are to paid lip service only. This is a well known fact among knowledgeable CEOs. Fuck the shareholders, most of them are in it for a quick buck and don’t give a shit about the company. Why give them the time of day.

        1. Isn’t that obvious – no one likes to see their stocks go down in price especially in the manner we have seen recently.

          Apple’s problem is that their products are in demand and they cannot produce enough. The sheer volume for iPhones and iPads is staggering and no other manufacturer makes that many. The logistics are huge and I for one am glad that Cook is in charge because otherwise the situation would be a real mess.

            1. But, but… I was promised that this was a sure thing. I want my money back. You cheated me.

              Stop over at my place after work for a little 3 card monte.

      1. You know I am right. Drop in AAPL might be because of WS and that’s OK. However, iPhone 5 is not doing that great and Cook is a great and talented CEO but he doesn’t belong on stage as a “visionary” and try to convince us things just work when they don’t (ie Maps) and Steve should have known this.

        My fingers are crossed, hoping there is more growth in Apple but my early retirement is gone for now (maybe years away and then it wont be “early”).

          1. Clearly not a Samsung troll, but someone who lost money on AAPL stock and is a bit bitter about it, which is completely understandable. If your portfolio was worth $700k four months ago, and is now worth only $460k, you’d be bitter as well.

            Putting all eggs in one basket is not the best retirement investment strategy (especially when one is not that far from the retirement age), but many people did exactly that with AAPL, as it had so far been practically a bullet-proof stock, successfully weathering the big drop of 2008.

            On the other hand, AAPL is still higher than it has ever been up until about a year ago. In other words, this massive drop since September only erased the last 11 months of gains. For long-term investors, as painful as it now looks, this should not be that worrisome. All they lost was one year of gains. The likelihood of AAPL reaching $700 this September is not any smaller than it was one year ago for last September. If it happened last year, with even more profits and greater total revenue, it can easily happen again.

            While I don’t want to sound like a mindless cheerleader, realistically speaking, AAPL has greater potential for growth from $450 today than it has a year ago.

  3. I think it’s time to bring Woz to the rescue. Tim Cook was good as an interim CEO after Steve, but he is not a visionary like Steve nor the technology master like good old Wozzie.

    1. Yes you have. Let’s hope that you are wrong. At least Apple is still bigger than Dell although I don’t see those comparisons on MDN anymore. Dell is trying to go private so we may not see the Apple/Dell comparison much longer anyway.

  4. It’s pretty amusing that they fixate on the data (48 vs 50 mil iPhones) that has the least to do with the sell off of the stock. Folks are running because they see the future guidance as weak. I don’t believe that to be true, but I do believe the insanely awesome growth will have to slow at some point.

  5. People on Wall Street are the problem thes guys don’t know how to run a company or when a company is good or bad.. They just know how to mess with the market to line there pockets… This is the strongest company in years and even if you are short sided enough to think they will not come out with anything grownd breaking products or that they are slipping in market share.

    They are still making boatloads of money… If apple really wanted to mess with you guys they should use the billions to buy back stock and go private employee owned only…

    I know what I’m saying make no diffrance in what they a-holes do on Wall Street but us regular guys care…

    Also lets look at the completion Samsung a 100% none US company. Lets support them.. Hmmm smart idea … I don’t think so….

    Microsoft… Lets support them… That’s a good idea but average products….

    I could g on but the reality is that USA only make one world wide groundbreaking company… Who is the Apple

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