For a company that makes more money in one quarter than most companies make in their entire lifetimes, it’s hard to imagine that a profit of $13.1 billion in one quarter can be disappointing news to investors. But this is exactly what happened today when Apple announced its first quarter earnings.
No increase in profits
Apple pulled in profits of $13.1 billion during the same time last year, but investors and industry analysts set high goals for the company that Jobs built and expected an increase in earnings during Apple’s first quarter.
Meeting the same numbers posted last year has shareholders worried and some industry pundits thinking that the leveling off of profits means Apple is losing its luster in the marketplace.
No new stuff
The basic concerns revolve around Apple’s ability to continue to generate flashy new products in the marketplace. The recent releases of upgraded iPhones and iPads only added to these concerns as Apple stocks went south by 10 percent in after hours trading today.
Rob Cihra, an analyst at Evercore Partners stated:
“Sentiment has turned super-pessimistic on Apple, where they’ve gone from being able to do no wrong to suddenly being able to do no right. I tend to think the company’s momentum is a heck of a lot more solid than people are concerned about.”
This year
The first month of 2013 hasn’t even ended yet so there is still plenty of time for Apple to prove the naysayers wrong. But if there aren’t any groundbreaking products from Apple by the close of 2013, Apple may see something that it hasn’t seen since 1993—eroding market share and big losses.
Via New York Times
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