Not that everyone follows financial news, but dropping Apple stock prices have dampened enthusiasm about the company so many love (and others hate). Recent reactions could well result from a number of factors: the inevitable fall of any huge success, suspicions about the company without Steve Jobs, or simply the fickle nature of a stock market driven by flash-trading and emotion. Today’s Slate.com added a few more ideas:
“On Wednesday afternoon, Apple announced that during the last three months of 2012, it earned more money than any other non-oil company has ever earned in a single quarter. (Gazprom, Royal Dutch Shell, and ExxonMobil have each topped Apple’s earnings one time.) What’s more, during all of 2012, Apple’s profits topped $41.7 billion, which is also a record for any firm outside the oil industry. (ExxonMobil earned a few billion more in 2006, 2007, and 2008.)
“The superlatives didn’t end there. Apple sold nearly 48 million iPhones over the holidays. It didn’t specify how many of them were iPhone 5s, but it’s likely that most were the latest model, which would also be a record for the smartphone business—the iPhone 5’s closest competitor, the Samsung Galaxy SIII, took seven months to sell just 40 million units. Then there’s the iPad: Apple sold 23 million in three months, which is about 50 percent more than it sold during the holidays last year, and also a record. No other company has ever come close to selling as many tablets in so short a time.
“To sum up, the world’s most valuable company posted one of the most stunning quarterly earnings reports in corporate history. Sales of its most important products were through the roof. So investors were thrilled, right? Nope. Apple’s stock began to swoon in after-hours trading, and today it’s down 12 percent. Commentators are saying that Apple has “hit a wall,” that it is “slowing down,” that we are witnessing the beginning of the end of Apple’s “magic.”
All of that is totally bogus. It’s wrong in the specifics—if you dive into the details of Apple’s quarter, it’s hard to find a single sign that consumers are sick of its products—and it’s wrong with regard to the larger storyline.”
For more, see: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2013/01/apple_earnings_report_don_t_let_its_stock_slump_fool_you_the_company_is.html