Apple took a $6 billion hit to its sales during the fiscal
fourth quarter due to persistent global supply chain problems, leading to a
miss on Wall Street expectations. Top boss Tim Cook said the impact will be
even worse in the current holiday sales quarter.
"Compared to less hardware focused FAANG peers, Apple
is also a lot more exposed to supply chain disruption," said Sophie
Lund-Yates, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Apple's shares dropped 1.8 percent to end the session at
$149.80, giving the company a market capitalization of $2.48 trillion. By
contrast, shares of Windows software maker Microsoft rose 2.2 percent to a
record high of $331.62, ending the session with a market capitalization of
$2.49 trillion.
Apple, which has repurchased $421.7 billion worth of shares
over the years, had announced a massive $90 billion share buyback in April. As
a result, the outstanding stock pool keeps shrinking, and the company ended its
fiscal fourth quarter with 16.4 billion shares.
Microsoft's stock has surged 49 percent this year, with
pandemic-induced demand for its cloud-based services driving sales. Shares of
Apple have climbed 13 percent so far this year.
Apple's stock market value overtook Microsoft's in 2010 as
the iPhone made it the world's premier consumer technology company. The
companies have taken turns as Wall Street's most valuable business in recent
years, with Apple holding the title since mid-2020.
Analysts say Apple has managed the supply chain issue well,
but with Cook warning of more pressure, the door is open to a hit to its
performance as the holiday season kicks in.
In contrast, Microsoft on Tuesday forecast a strong end to
the calendar year. But it also warned that supply-chain woes will continue to
dog key units, such as those producing its Surface laptops and Xbox gaming
consoles. © Reuters
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