Shares of Apple Inc plunged to a 52-week low on Monday and flirted with the US$100 line after analysts downgraded the stock because they believe slowing consumer spending will hit its computer business.
The downgrades compounded losses in the general market because of the continuing credit drama.
The stock fell US$22.98, or 17.9 percent, to close at US$105.26. Earlier in the day, the shares touched US$100.59, the lowest level since early last year.
Morgan Stanley analyst Kathryn Huberty downgraded Apple to “equal-weight” from “overweight,” saying she was concerned that growth in the Macintosh unit is slowing down.
The computer market is feeling the weakness in consumer spending, and Morgan Stanley’s analysis indicates that growth will shift to the low end of the market, where Apple doesn’t really play, Huberty said.
Huberty also said that even in the best of cases, Apple’s earnings growth will slow down from the quarter that ended in June.
Huberty cut her earnings estimate for fiscal 2009, which just started, to US$5.47 from US$5.91 per share.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky reduced his rating on the stock to “sector perform” from “outperform” for similar reasons. He noted that the bank’s surveys of consumers indicated a big drop in the number intending to buy Macintosh computers and trimmed his estimate for fourth-quarter Mac sales to 2.9 million from 3 million.
Abramsky raised his iPhone sales estimate to 6 million units from 5 million, but he still trimmed his fiscal 2008 earnings estimate by US$0.02 to US$5.26 per share. He put fiscal 2009 earnings at US$5.47 per share, down from US$6.07.
Apple has already forecast a drop in margins for just-ended quarter and next year because of back-to-school promotions and the launch of new products.
Apple’s stock had a banner year last year, more than doubling in value. It set a 52-week high of US$202.96 at the end of the year. With Monday’s decline, the stock has given back most of last year’s gains.
Shares of Dell Inc fell US$1.59, or 9.4 percent, to US$15.41.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique