Apple’s stock price has dropped on 10 of the 14 iPhone launch months since iPhone 4. How will iPhone 16 enhanced with AI boost the Apple stock on Sep 9? Let’s see.
Investors hoping for a big move in Apple’s stock as the latest iPhone is launched may be left disappointed, if history is anything to go by. Or, at the very least, they may have to wait for the post-launch gains.
Since iPhone 4 launch, the shares have fallen 0.7% on average on the day of an iPhone announcement and fell 2% on average on the month of an iPhone announcement.
Apple is set to launch its iPhone 16 on Sept. 9. There is a lot of excitement about the new device, as the model will feature what the company describes as “Apple Intelligence.”
The iPhone 16 series will be Apple's 18th-generation smartphone family but its first to come integrated with Apple's flavor of artificial intelligence, branded Apple Intelligence. Apple AI will use both on-device and data-center processing with a focus on privacy and security.
The centerpiece of Apple's AI strategy is a revamped Siri digital assistant, which responds to voice and text prompts. With AI smarts, Siri will be able to work across apps and retrieve information from messages, emails, calendar, photos and other apps. It also can summarize emails and webpages and transcribe calls. Plus, it can generate custom emoji and other images.
Apple Stock Headwinds
Apple shares have been battered recently by several news stories.
On Aug. 3, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB) disclosed a massive sale of its Apple stake.
Berkshire Hathaway cut its stake in Apple by 49% in the second quarter. Apple remains a top holding though, with the conglomerate owning $84.2 billion worth of Apple stock as of June 30.
On Aug. 5, a federal judge ruled that Alphabet (GOOGL) unit Google violated antitrust laws by engaging in unfair business tactics to dominate the internet search advertising market. A central part of the Justice Department's case against Google was the company's $20 billion in annual payments to Apple to make Google the default search engine on iPhones.
Those payments to Apple are now threatened as the case moves to a remedy phase.
On Aug. 26, Apple announced that its well-regarded chief financial officer is leaving the post after more than 10 years.
Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri will step down from the post effective Jan. 1. He will continue to lead Apple's Corporate Services teams, including information systems and technology, information security, and real estate and development.
As part of the planned succession, Kevan Parekh, Apple's vice president of financial planning and analysis, will become chief financial officer and join the executive team.
Apple Fundamentals
Late on Aug. 1, Apple beat expectations for its fiscal third quarter thanks to record services revenue and strong iPad sales. It also guided modestly above views for sales in the current quarter. In the next trading session, Apple stock climbed 0.7% to close at 219.86.
Apple earned $1.40 a share on sales of $85.8 billion in the quarter ended June 29. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected Apple earnings of $1.34 a share on sales of $84.4 billion. On a year-over-year basis, Apple earnings rose 11% while sales climbed 5%.
In the June quarter, Apple's hardware sales rose 2% year over year to $61.6 billion while services revenue increased 14% to $24.2 billion.
Apple's iPhone revenue dipped nearly 1% to $39.3 billion and accounted for 46% of the company's total sales in fiscal Q3.
Meanwhile, Apple's iPad tablet sales jumped 24% to $7.2 billion thanks to the release of new models. Mac computer sales rose 2% to $7 billion.
Finally, revenue from Apple's wearables, home and accessories unit fell 2% to $8.1 billion.
Apple forecast fiscal Q4 revenue growth of about 5%, vs. the consensus estimate of 4.4%.
