Apple underwhelms; Chipotle stock sinks; Atwitter over Twitter

According to The Wall Street Journal, this is the first time in 15 years that Apple’s annual revenue has declined. Profit also dropped, falling from $53.4 billion last year to $45.7 billion this year. Analysts anticipate that Apple will post $8.27 EPS for the current fiscal year. Its final quarter results, published yesterday, show sales down an incredible 9% compared to past year at $46.85 billion.

Apple has been struggling with shrinking demand for its signature products at a time when analysts say it’s increasingly hard for tech companies to come up with dramatically new features.

The tech icon’s sales soared in the three months leading up to 24 September with 45.1m compared to its average of 44.8m.

Apple is still raking in money hand over fist, but the company’s financial performance is no longer setting records quarter after quarter.

Apple stock was down 2.5 percent in after hours trading following the earnings release.

Owing to persistent macroeconomic weakness, Apple revenues declined around 30% year over year in the Greater China region to $8.8 billion. But some analysts warn Apple relies too heavily on a single product line, the iPhone, which contributed almost two thirds of Apple’s revenue.

Apple Inc’s shares slipped as much as 4 per cent after the company said it was struggling to keep up with demand for its large-screen, higher-margin iPhone 7 Plus, potentially reducing sales and profits in the Christmas shopping period. Their service revenues are growing year after year, with $6.3 billion in services revenue this quarter alone. NN Investment Partners Holdings N.V. purchased a new position in Apple during the first quarter valued at about $325,287,000.

Apple’s iPhone sales in India grew by more than 50 percent in the company’s fiscal year, chief executive Tim Cook said on Tuesday as the technology giant touted the potential of new growth markets. Wells Fargo & Co. reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $112.50 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday.

However iPad sales remained stable at 9.9 million and the services division increased its revenue from $5 billion (£4.2bn) to $6.3 billion (£5.16bn), fuelled by income from Apple Pay, Apple Music and other segments.

Gross margin was also down, 38 per cent this quarter compared to 39.9 per cent this time past year.

The more consumers use Apple applications and services, “the less likely they will switch to a rival”, he said. A huge redesign, save for a lack of headphone port, didn’t happen with the iPhone 7.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. One recent global report has suggested smartwatch sales declined 51 percent in the third quarter of 2016.