Shares in Apple Inc. closed at almost a three month low on Thursday, ending the day at $530.12, down $15.955 (-2.92%), on heavy volume of 25.6 million shares trading hands. That’s the lowest close since February 28th, 2012, when the stock closed at $525.76.
AAPL has been on a bit of a roller coaster ride during the last three months, as the stock rose to an all-time closing high of $636.23 on April 9th, only to give away most of those gains in the last few weeks. The chart below tracks Apple’s three month stock performance.
Three Month Chart of AAPL, with Circles and Arrows
Source: Yahoo! Finance
On the other hand, if you look at the last three months in the context of the last 12 months of trading, you get an entirely different picture, which we have conveniently supplied below.
One Year Chart for AAPL, with More Circles and Arrows
Source: Yahoo! Finance
In that context, we see that Apple is still flying high, and is trading well above the levels set when Steve Jobs resigned and then passed away in late 2011. It’s also up some 30.9 percent in calendar 2012, after the stock ended 2011 at $405 per share.
So what’s going on to push the stock around so much in the last few weeks? First, there was the run the stock in March and the early part of April, as investors were excited about the new iPad, rumors of an Apple television set, and giddy anticipation of an iPhone 5. All those gains make for some attractive profit taking when you’re worried about the global economy.
Indeed, global economic worries have everyone in a rut, and the ongoing debt crisis in Europe has been compounded by political turmoil in Greece that could result in that country pulling out of the Euro (as in €). There is considerable worry that if that happens, other countries could choose or be forced to do the same, with the possibility of the whole thing unravelling.
There’s also been concern of slowing iPhone sales ahead of an expected upgrade later this year, and the possibility of carrier subsidy plans having a deleterious effect on iPhone sales, too.
The end result is that while most still think that Apple is the bee’s knees, investors have simply been in a selling mood. In fact, let’s compare AAPL to the performance of the three major U.S. indices:
Apple vs. DOW vs. NASDAQ vs. S&P 500, with Our Leftover Circle and Arrow
Source: Yahoo! Finance
This chart shows us just how well that AAPL has done compared to the entire rest of the market, especially in the last three months.
*In the interest of full disclosure, the author holds a tiny, almost insignificant share in AAPL stock that was not an influence in the creation of this article.