Faced with weakening foreign currencies, smartphone saturation and no
publicly announced product launches in the next three months, Apple told
investors on Tuesday the company forecasts revenue for the first three
months of the year to be somewhere between $50 billion and $53 billion,
falling short of Wall Street's expectation of $55.5 billion.
Apple reported sales of 74.8 million iPhones during the quarter -- up less than 1 percent from the same time one year ago.
Daniel Ives, managing director at FBR Capital Markets, told ABC News
that softness -- that's a saturation in smartphones on the market with
fewer buyers -- will be a challenge for Apple and its competitors.
"We believe once we go through this choppy March and June period that
brighter days are ahead," Ives said. He said he believes investors will
pin their hopes to the likely release of a new iPhone in September, a
pattern Apple has followed over the past few years.
Apple shares were down more than 4 percent in early morning trading to $95.26.
"The company clearly has some headwinds," Ives said. "But we do not
believe this is the end of the Apple growth story, just another chapter
[CEO Tim] Cook is about to write."
By: Alyssa Newcomb.
Review: Emerging Market Formulations & Research Unit, Flagship Records.
For The #FacebookTeam