Ahead of its earnings, Apple is off to a terrible 2025 and lagging its Big Tech peers
In need of a Shuffle… Apple might want to try restoring 2025 to factory settings. While most BATMMAAN stocks (aka Big Tech) have popped this year, Apple has floundered. The iMac maker’s stock is down around 11% so far this year, which wiped out about $450B in value. Last week, Nvidia surpassed Apple for the sixth time as the world’s most valuable company. In October, Apple unloaded record Q4 revenue as iPhone sales ticked up for the first time in two quarters (the phones make up nearly half its total revenue). But sales of its other gadgets fell short of estimates.
Outlook: On its last earnings call, Apple said it anticipated modest single-digit sales growth, in line with Wall Street’s expectations.
Spinning wheels of death… Apple seems to be in a state of buffering. It was dethroned as the top smartphone seller in China last year, slipping to third behind domestic rivals Vivo and Huawei as iPhone sales in the country fell 17% (they dipped globally too). Meantime, Apple this month temporarily disabled AI summaries of news and entertainment notifications after repeated factual errors. A recent survey said 73% of iPhone owners didn’t find value in the new AI features, which Apple had hoped would fuel upgrades. We’ll see whether that’s reflected in Q1 #s, the first full quarter for Apple’s new devices.
Flipping strategies: Apple’s rumored to be working on a foldable iPhone to compete with flippy models from Samsung and Huawei.
You can’t get too comfortable… Apple was crowned America’s best-run company last year, but now it’s covered in bruises. Last week, Jefferies downgraded Apple from “hold” to “underperform,” and JPMorgan lowered its price target. To turn things around, Apple will need to deliver strong holiday sales #s and a cheery outlook.