Concerns about soft demand for iPhone has reared its perennial head, and Apple's stock has taken a beating as a consequence. Shares in $AAPL ended Tuesday at US$110.49 per share, down $1.99 (-1.77 percent), on heavy volume of 53 million shares trading hands.
AAPL Five Day Chart Ending 12/15/2015
Source: E*Trade
Several Wall Street firms have cut iPhone estimates this week, including Morgan Stanley (analyst Katy Huberty), JP Morgan (analyst Narci Chang), Barclays (analyst Mark Moskowitz), and Susquehanna (Chris Caso). Driving those cuts were concerns from some of Apple's key component suppliers.
Apple has not commented on the analyst reports, but in the past CEO Tim Cook has said Apple's supply chain was too complex to draw conclusions from isolated information from suppliers. The company has also been hit with frequent concerns about iPhone sales, though those concerns have never borne out.
Analysts and investors get spooked by any hint of an iPhone slowdown because the device is responsible for almost two thirds of Apple's revenue. The question, of course, is whether this time the concerns are finally justified, or if $AAPL's decline represents a buying opportunity.
The stock is down some 17.8 percent from its high of $134.54 per share set on April 24th, 2015, a significant correction that is far below the market's broader performance.
*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.