Why Apple stock is on the brink of a 10% correction
Apple (AAPL) investors have had a rotten August as the bears feast on renewed growth fears.
Shares of the tech giant are off by about 8.8% in August, according to Yahoo Finance data, badly underperforming the S&P 500's 1.6% drop. The stock has fallen below its key 50-day moving average as sentiment has soured after the company's tepid earnings report a week ago.
Relative to its July 31 record high, Apple is down roughly 9% — or 1 percentage point away from reaching the technical definition of a correction. During this span, Apple has seen a loss of $255 billion in market value.
"The move is just knee-jerk August selling after a parabolic run so far this year," longtime Apple bull and Wedbush tech analyst Dan Ives told Yahoo Finance.
"Selling Apple here ahead of the iPhone 15 launch, services ramping to double-digits, and a new tech bull market underway would be like leaving the Super Bowl at halftime," Ives added.
Year to date, Apple's stock remains up 38% and a relative outperformer compared with the 17% gain for the S&P 500 (^GSPC).
A little more is at play in the Apple pullback than profit-taking, however.
Rumblings on the Street suggest that sluggish economies in the US and China may weigh on Apple's results into 2024.
And Apple's latest earnings day only fanned those flames.
iPhone, Mac, and iPhone sales fell year over year in the most recent quarter. Sales fell in Apple's Americas, Japan, and Rest of Asia geographic segments.
"The geographic performance continues to highlight the challenges in key developed markets," pointed out JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee in a client note.
The company's September quarter sales guidance surprised the Street negatively in large part of economic weakness.
Apple guided to a modest year-over-year revenue decline — the Street was banking on slight growth in the quarter.
"We continued to face an uneven macroeconomic environment," Apple CEO Tim Cook told analysts on the economic vibe from the quarter.
Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani thinks investors will "question" the growth potential of Apple near-term as a result of Cook's economic musings and formal guidance.
Since Apple's earnings, the economic outlook has become even cloudier.
The July jobs report last Friday showed slowing employment growth and noteworthy downward revisions to prior months. Meanwhile, China — an important market for Apple — plunged into deflation on Wednesday. This came on the back of another terrible read on the country's trade on Monday.
The overall read: A muted global economy isn't great for Apple ahead of two vital product launches in the iPhone 15 and Vision Pro.
"Bears won this mini battle the last week, but continue to lose the war being bearish on Cupertino," Ives opined.
Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn. Tips on deals, mergers, activist situations, or anything else? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.
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