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The iPhone 15 is expected to hit stores in September. Above, the iPhone 14 Pro.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Apple
hasn’t been feeling Wall Street’s love the past couple of days—since it reported earnings—and understandably so, even though the launch of iPhone 15 is about a month away.
The snub started in late trading Thursday, after Apple (ticker: AAPL) beat analysts’ earnings expectations by 6 cents—$1.26 per share for the June quarter—but showed a sales decline of 1% year over year.
By Friday’s closing bell, the stock had dropped below its $3 trillion market capitalization. The losses—4.8%, to the price of $181.99—were the biggest in a single day since Sept. 29. And it was the first time since early this year that shares closed below their 50-day moving average of $187.09.
On Monday, things weren’t looking up. Shares dropped 2%, to $178.52, making Apple the poorest performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
For those who don’t track Apple stock closely, it’s hard to fathom that a slight sales drop would shake investors. After all, they have enjoyed an annualized total return of 29% over the past decade, compared with 12% for the S&P 500 and 11% for the Dow.
But devotees of the tech titan know that sales have declined on a year-over-year basis for three quarters, the first since the three quarters ending September 2016. And Apple was the only one among its rivals to report a fall in revenue between consecutive quarters in this latest earnings season.
Plus, the company expects its performance to be similar in the current September quarter, assuming the broad…
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