Has Apple screwed up that badly?
The one-time Wall Street darling has become a dog, and it could be headed for its first quarterly profit decline in more than a decade.
Nothing Cupertino does lately is good enough for the company's rabid fans in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street. And Wednesday, we may see some naysayer predictions become a reality.
The maker of the iPad, iPhone and MacBook is scheduled to report earnings Wednesday, and as Bloomberg News pointed out, the company may show its first quarterly profit decline in more than a decade.
There are many reasons for the decline, including rising competition from Samsung and pricier components. And sales -- while still at a level any other company would drool over -- are slowing. Revenue is only expected to rise 18% to $54.8 billion, the slowest rate since 2009.
Shares of Apple have plunged more than 20% over the past three months as investors fretted about calamities real (the popularity of Android) and imagined (the iPad Mini supposedly falling flat in China). The problem that stock market pundits have with Apple is that since they weren't too good at forecasting the good times, they're worried about missing the boat in the "bad times."
The company has exceeded analysts' predictions in all but three quarters since 2006, creating expectations high enough for the International Space Station. Apple's fetish for secrecy that began under the late CEO Steve Jobs creates an aura of mystery that magnifies the importance of everything the company does. In good times, there was a sense of excitement over every new product launch. In not-so-good times, investors looking for explicit reassurances are losing faith.
Apple has hit many home runs over the years, so many in fact that if it only manages a single or a double, many are left disappointed. Will that be the case on Wednesday?
--Jonathan Berr does not own shares of the listed stocks. Follow him on Twitter @jdberr.
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Yes, I also say "screw Wall Street'. What do these idiot analyst, so they call themselves, think that any company can keep their stock going up. All companies pull in a bit here and there. If they don't it's because Wall Street crooks are manipulating the price / market.
Apple, don't listen to Wall Street. Just keep doing what your doing by inventing and do spend on R&D.
They are about to lose the tablet market to Microsoft and Intel. Maybe the Surface Pro is too expensive and has less than ideal battery life today but in two years those Wintel tablets will be dirt cheap with battery life to spare and integrates with the office network.
It's all downhill from here on out for Apple. Sell now while before the bottom drops out...
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