Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Loses Momentum, Down Over 6% Last Week
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has one the worst week so far this week as the stock fell as much 6% for the week with the broader market. A sharp started just after a rally of about 9% on April 25, 2012, when the company reported solid second quarter results. However, since then the stock closed lower for six trading sessions out of the past seven trading sessions. The biggest single day fall was on April 30, when the stock lost over 3%.
The drop in the shares of Apple Inc. was partly accompanied by a decline in the prices over the broader technology sector pack with a slump of 3.8% on S&P 500 index (SPX) of technology shares. In spite of a better than expected first quarter 2012 earnings reporting, the stock declined due to a lower than expected second quarter outlook provided by the other tech sector companies. Juniper Networks (JNPR), Qualcomm (QCOM), Lexmark International (LXK) and even Apple (AAPL) all gave lower-than-expected outlooks.
Just after the earnings, several analysts upgraded their price target on the stock, but few lowered their estimates for the Q3 and Q4, citing concerns about the subsidy cuts. However, investors have been ignoring this fact as they are eagerly waiting for the new version of iPhone. Shares of Apple Inc. had the worst trading week after its all time high of $644 achieved on April 10. Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) closed trade at $ $565.25 which brings its weekly trading downfall to more than 6%.
Other tech companies that announced a lower than expected second quarter guidance are Juniper Networks (JNPR), Qualcomm (QCOM), Lexmark International (LXK). Consequently, the S&P second-quarter earnings growth has now been cut to 8.9% as compared to the previous estimate of 9.2% issued on April 1.