Apple warns on holiday sales, sending value below US$1 trillion
- Apple’s business in China grew 16 per cent to US$11.4 billion, the fifth quarter in a row the company has had double-digit growth in the market
Apple on Thursday said sales for the crucial holiday quarter could miss Wall Street expectations, which chief executive Tim Cook blamed on weakness in emerging markets, foreign exchange costs and uncertainty whether the iPhone maker can keep up with demand for new products.
The disappointing forecast by the world’s most valuable technology company helped send shares down as much as 7 per cent, taking roughly US$70 billion off Apple’s market value and forcing that value below US$1 trillion. The forecast could also deepen concerns for technology companies that saw a sell-off after misses by Amazon.com and Google parent Alphabet.
Apple said it expects between US$89 billion and US$93 billion in revenue for its fiscal first quarter ending in December, while Wall Street on average expects US$93 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Cook in an interview with Reuters said that Apple is “seeing some macroeconomic weakness in some of the emerging markets”. He later told investors on a conference call that weak markets included Brazil, India, Russia and Turkey. Sales were flat in the fourth quarter in India, Cook said.
“Obviously, we would like to see that be a huge growth,” Cook said on the call.
