“With Apple’s share price already down 15% from its high in April, numerous business articles have announced that Apple is in a ‘correction,'” Mark Hibben writes for Seeking Alpha. “By the usual definition, corrections occur to adjust for overvaluation of a stock. Even at its all-time high, Apple wasn’t overvalued, making this a false correction.”
“Paul R. La Monica’s article about the ‘correction’ in CNN Money should serve as a comprehensive list of talking points for Apple critics for the rest of the year,” Hibben writes. “His explanation for the ‘correction’ is ‘disappointing’ iPhone sales and the Canalys report citing Apple’s market share decline in China in the June quarter.”
• Disappointing iPhone sales: How disappointed can you be over a 35% y/y increase in unit sales?
• Declining market share in China: The focus on sequential changes in product shipment or market share has often been exploited by Apple critics to portray Apple as on the decline. Such portrayals are inherently deceptive.
• Apple is too dependent on iPhone: Last quarter, Apple’s non-iPhone revenue was $18.237 billion. That’s more than Google’s total revenue last quarter of $17.727 billion. If we apply Apple’s corporate operating margin rate of 28.4%, then the non-iPhone operating profit would have been $5.178 billion, once again beating Google’s total operating profit of $4.825 billion.
“In the coming months we’ll probably hear all the reasons why Apple is going to fail repeatedly in infinite variation,” Hibben writes. “The difficult comps will get frequent mention. Leaked supplier reports will claim that iPhone sales are “disappointing”. Apple Watch will be an unmitigated disaster. The litany of negative speculation will seem endless. And it probably won’t end until Apple reports fiscal 1Q 2016 results next January.”
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: As fairly close followers of Apple-related news, we’ve seen this ruse numerous times.
As we wrote back in January 2012:
AAPL is like a buoy. Quick, it’s back on the surface! You there, analyst, and you, too, swim down and tug on the chain! Drag it under… lower, lower… Good! Now, quick, everybody jump on, and we’ll take a ride back up to the top again!
And, as we wrote in April 2012:
At the most basic level, it’s extremely simple: Pump, then dump. Foment, then buy. Rinse, lather, repeat as the SEC sleeps.
SEE ALSO:
Merrill Lynch cuts Apple rating; Jefferies, Global Equities foresee impending ‘disaster’ – August 5, 2015
‘The Curse of the Dow’ bites Apple – August 4, 2015
Apple enters correction territory: More carnage to come? – August 4, 2015
Analysts: This is the catalyst to push Apple higher – August 4, 2015
Why Apple’s next-gen iPhone 6s/Plus will generate 20% growth – August 4, 2015
Why there won’t be an iPhone 6s/Plus bump – August 4, 2015
Apple stock implosion shreds $113.4 billion and counting – August 4, 2015
About all of those reports that Apple is in dire straits – August 4, 2015
Continued Apple swoon could crush this market – August 4, 2015
Apple replacing AT&T causes Dow Jones Industrial Average to suffer – August 4, 2015
Apple stock now officially in correction territory as it crosses below key technical level – August 3, 2015
Nasdaq retreats amid tech selloff after Apple’s record results – July 22, 2015
Apple earnings: Good is never good enough – July 22, 2015
Cowen downgrades Apple on record quarterly earnings results – July 22, 2015
For Apple, more success raises more questions – July 22, 2015
Sorry, haters: Tim Cook confirms Apple Watch sales are much better than you think – July 22, 2015
Here’s how many Apple Watch units Apple sold – July 22, 2015
Drudge screams: ‘APPLE FUTURE QUESTIONED’ – July 21, 2015
Apple poised for $50 billion valuation loss after posting ‘disappointing’ record earnings – July 21, 2015
Apple shares plunge after ‘disappointing’ record third quarter results – July 21, 2015
MacDailyNews presents live notes from Apple’s Q315 Conference Call – July 21, 2015
Apple pulverizes the Street with record third quarter results – July 21, 2015
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Bill” for the heads up.]