According to celebrity investor Donald Trump, Apple is in trouble and it's because size does matter. He says Apple failed to hit its iPhone sales goals and the reason is because the smartphone's screen is just too small.
Trump says Apple needs a bigger iPhone
Mr. Trump offered up his financial analysis on Twitter saying,
Apple's iPhone sales fell way short-they must go to a larger screen, as alternative, fast (as I said long ago)! Samsung's size much better.
I predicted Apple's stock fall based on their dumb refusal to give the option of a larger iPhone screen like Samsung. I sold my Apple stock
Apple sold 51 million iPhones during the quarter, up year over year from 47.8 million. Analysts had been hoping iPhones sales would be higher. Canaccord Genuity's Michael Walkley, for example, had estimated 54 million units, and Shaw Wu from Wells Fargo expected 54.8 million.
Rumors have been circulating that a bigger screen iPhone is coming this year, and there may even be two models. Cowen & Co analyst Timothy Arcuri thinks the iPhone 6 will sport a 4.8-inch display, and Chinese analyst Sun Chyang Xu said both 4.7-inch and 5.7-inch iPhones are on the way.
That must be music to Mr. Trump's ears since continued iPhone growth must spell doom for Apple and it's diminutive 4-inch iPhone display.
Aside from refusing to give customers a bigger screen iPhone, Mr. Trump thinks Apple has lost its way, saying, "Steve Jobs is spinning in his grave - Apple has lost both vision and momentum - must move fast to get magic back!"
Without apparent vision or momentum, Apple reported record breaking quarterly revenue at US$57.6 billion, up year over year from $54.5 billion. Mr. Trump's solution: follow Samsung's lead.
Mr. Trump said he sold his Apple shares ahead of the company's quarterly earnings report, which may have saved him from losing money since the stock historically has dropped after, and this week's cycle was no different. That, by the way, makes his prediction that Apple's stock would drop pretty easy considerint that's what always happens after an earnings report.
In contrast, big-time investor Carl Icahn sees investing in Apple as a smart move, regardless of iPhone screen sizes. His beef with the company is that it isn't buying back its own stock as aggressively as he'd like.
Clearly, Mr. Icahn didn't get Trump's memo because he's still buying up Apple stock as fast as he can. He calls it a "no brainer" investment, which just might say something about Mr. Trump's comments.