(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc.’s Asian suppliers tumbled, following U.S. peers, after the iPhone maker cut its fiscal first-quarter revenue forecast on China weakness.
Apple slashed its forecast to $84 billion, compared with earlier guidance of $89 billion to $93 billion, citing an unexpected slowdown in demand from China and fewer upgrades to iPhone models, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said in a statement Wednesday. Airpods and Macbook sales were also constrained, he said. Apple shares fell as much as 8.5 percent in post-market trading.
In Taiwan, the main iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. fell as much as 2 percent, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the maker of processors for the iPhone, slid 2.5 percent. Luxshare Precision Industry Co. plunged as much as 8.1 percent in Shenzhen, while South Korean camera module supplier LG Innotek Co. dropped 4.4 percent.
“With the forecast cut, Apple will pressure suppliers to cut prices and keep stockpiles low,” Concord Securities Co. assistant vice president Allan Lin said. “First quarter is already an off-peak season. Their first-quarter sales could be terrible.”
In U.S. post-market trading, Skyworks Solutions Inc. fell as much as 6.6 percent, while Broadcom Inc. slid 5 percent and Qorvo Inc. dropped 5.2 percent. Universal Display Corp. declined 4.5 percent and Lumentum Holdings Inc. tumbled as much as 8.9 percent. Shares of U.S. retailers that sell Apple products were also weak on the news. Costco Wholesale Corp. retreated as much as 1.3 percent in extended trading. Best Buy Co. fell 3.8 percent while Target Corp. slid 1.2 percent.
Later today, watch stocks in Europe including Dialog Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics, AMS, IQE and InfineonWatch these Japanese suppliers when the country’s equity markets re-open tomorrow: Japan Display, Sharp, TDK, Nissha, Foster Electric, Kyocera, Sony, Minebea, Ibiden, Hirose, Japan Aviation Electronics
(Updates with trader comment in 4th paragraph.)
–With assistance from Sarah Ponczek, Divya Balji and Philip Glamann.
To contact the reporters on this story: Catherine Larkin in Chicago at [email protected];Matthew Burgess in Sydney at [email protected];Yu-Huay Sun in Taipei at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Arie Shapira at [email protected], Tim Smith, Ryan Lovdahl
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