“Apple may have lost nearly half of its value since its peak in September, but it’s still the talk of the town,” Angela Moon reports for Reuters. “Only this time, it’s all about how low can it go?”
“Once a Wall Street darling, Apple faces tough questions from shareholders next week. Its stock is down more than 40 percent from its peak in September,” Moon reports. “And for this year alone, Apple is down 27 percent – still firmly in the grip of a bear market, which Wall Street defines as the loss of 20 percent or more from a recent peak.”
Moon reports, “The company is expected to report a mere 8 percent gain in quarterly revenue, among the weakest displays of quarterly growth in years, according to average analysts’ estimates, polled by Reuters. Earnings per share are expected to fall 18 percent as Samsung Electronics and other hard-charging rivals erode Apple’s market share and put pressure on its margins.”
“Apple shares closed below $400 on Thursday for the first time since December 2011. The stock has shed more than $280 billion in market value since peaking at more than $700 a share in September. On Friday, the stock closed down 0.4 percent at $390.53,” Moon reports. “But Apple, which was once the world’s most valuable company, is trading at nine times trailing earnings. And 45 of 58 analysts polled by Reuters give the stock a ‘strong buy’ or ‘buy’ rating. According to Thomson Reuters Starmine, Apple’s intrinsic value – a price target based on expected growth rates over the next decade – was about $565 a share.”
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