Apple Stock Plunges to $400 After Supplier Warns of Weak Sales

From DailyTech: After quarters of confounding Wall Street "expert" analysts with better-than-expected earnings, could Apple, Inc. (AAPL) be on the verge of a highly uncharacteristic miss of its own earnings target? That's what Citigroup Inc. (C) analyst Glen Yeung predicted in his research note, citing supplier information as pointing to weaker-than-expected iPhone and iPad sales.

That prediction has been boosted by Cirrus Logic Inc. (CRUS), which provides audio chips for the iPhone and iPad. Cirrus warned investors Wednesday in its fiscal fourth quarter earnings results that its margins had weakened and that it was taking a large charge on unsold inventory of audio chips.

Cirrus's chip stock fluctuates primarily with the sales of its largest customer Apple's devices. Thus the large stock of unsold chips indicates weak sales of Apple's flagship devices.

Vernon Essi Jr., an analyst at Needham & Comp. told The Wall Street Journal, "[The warning] indicates that the recent fears of Apple's lackluster iPhone demand...are warranted."

Since the passing of iconic leader and late CEO Steven P. Jobs, Apple has continued to grow steadily under the quiet leadership of new CEO Tim Cook, but some fear the company is losing its marketing luster. Apple's faces tough competition from Android rivals -- particularly Samsung Electronics Comp., Ltd. (KSC:005930) and Google Inc. (GOOG) -- who have been more aggressive in updating their products' hardware and software.

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