Shares in Apple Inc. sold off on Monday, dragging the stock down more than three percent in strong volume. The stock dipped below US$600 for the first time in April, and is off not quite $50 from its closing high of $636.23 set on April 9th.
AAPL Chart for April 16th, 2012
Source: Yahoo! Finance
The broader markets are mixed—the DOW is in positive territory at 12,972.460, up 122.87 (+0.96 percent), while Google and Apple combined to help pull the NASDAQ to 2,997.050, down 14.28 (-0.47 percent)—and there is no Apple-specific news sparking the sell-off.
ISI Group analyst Brian Marshall said in a research note covered by MarketWatch, “We are not hearing anything new or incremental for the weakness in Apple stock. This could be a simple ‘collapsing’ on its own weight given the year-to-date move.”
At its height, Apple’s stock had risen 57.1 percent in 2012, alone. A staggering gain, profit taking (or a correction) had to happen at some point. Even with the sell-off of the last few trading sessions, the stock is still up $181.35, or 47.8 percent since it closed 2011 at $405 per share.
As noted above, shares of GOOG are also down, and were trading at $608.48 per share, down $16.12 (2.58 percent), also on strong volume.
As of this writing, AAPL was trading at $586.35, down $18.88 (-3.12 percent), on strong volume. Apple’s market cap sits at $546.7 billion, still easily the world’s most valuable company.
Apple will announce its March quarter earnings on April 24th.
*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.