Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL)’s profit warning for the
holiday quarter has not gone down too well with investors and analysts.
The stock fell below $600 on Friday, though it
recouped losses to close at $604, losing $5.54m off the day's low of $591.
On Thursday, after announcing the results for its
fiscal fourth quarter the iPhone maker had said that the expenses from
launching so many new products would cut into its profit margins.
It expects good sales from all the new products it has
launched in the current quarter and last quarter, but the costs incurred in
making the new products have been high, it said.
Apple launched the iPhone 5 a month ago and announced
two new iPads and three new Macs this week. In addition, it's shipping new
iPods.
The Cupertino company has the habit of issuing
conservative estimates and then performing better than expected, but this time
analysts are taking the profit warning seriously.
Several analysts have already cut the earnings
estimates for the company for the current quarter and the fiscal year that
started in October.
Stuart Jeffrey noted that Apple's profit margins
should be back to normal in the quarter that starts in April, but that will be
too late to fully make up for the earnings hit in the holiday quarter. He cut
his earnings estimate for the year by 10 percent and his price target on the
shares from $710 to $660.
Apple's shares have depreciated about $100 from the
highs of $705.07, it hit on September 21, when its iPhone 5 went on sales in
stores around the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment