Apple stock has suffered its worst start to the year on record as investors worry about a series of problems plaguing the tech giant, including signs of weak iPhone demand and increased federal antitrust oversight. It becomes.
The Cupertino, California-based company's valuation has plummeted by $177 billion in market capitalization since the start of 2024 through last Friday. reported by bloomberg.
The stock price fell more than 6% during the abbreviated first week, the largest ever decline in a company's market capitalization over the same period, and put Apple at risk of losing its title as the world's most valuable company.
Apple's stock price fell after reports surfaced that the Department of Justice is in the “final stages” of a major antitrust lawsuit against Apple.
Federal authorities are investigating whether Apple stifled competition and leveraged its own hardware and software products to maintain the iPhone's market dominance.
Anurag Rana, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said the Justice Department's antitrust case “will add to the many problems facing the department, from weak iPhone sales to Watch patent issues.” Ta.
“This lawsuit has the potential to attack Apple's business model of tightly integrating devices and services,” Rana added.
Apple shares rose about 1% in early trading Monday.
As of this morning, Apple's market cap stands at $2.85 trillion, followed by Microsoft at $2.75 trillion.
The Justice Department's investigation into Apple's business practices surfaced the same week that two companies downgraded the company's stock over concerns about iPhone sales.
Harsh Kumar, an analyst at Piper Sandler & Company, warned customers that iPhone “unit sales growth has peaked.”
The company also cited an ongoing dispute that led to authorities banning sales of the latest Apple Watch models due to alleged patent infringement, but a U.S. Court of Appeals subsequently suspended the action.
In other news, Barclays downgraded Apple's stock rating from “neutral” to “underweight” and lowered its price target for the company's stock from $161 to $160. This is mainly due to signs of weak iPhone demand in the Chinese market.
Wall Street will be watching as Apple prepares to launch its $3,499 Vision Pro virtual reality headset, its first major product release in years.
On Monday, Apple announced that the Vision Pro will be available for pre-order starting January 19th and will be in stores on February 2nd.
