Shares of Apple Inc fell 2 % on Tuesday and dragged the stocks of its suppliers across the globe lower after the iPhone maker warned of lower sales in the current quarter acknowledging that the coronavirus outbreak was pressuring its supply chain.
The drop in Apple’s stock is set to wipe nearly $30 billion off its market capitalization, just as it was inching closer to $1.5 trillion in value. The stock was trading down at $318.74.
In late January, Apple had forecast $63 billion to $67 billion in revenue for the quarter ending in March. It did not provide a new revenue estimate or a profit forecast on Monday.
Venture capital firm Loup Ventures expects March quarter revenue to be in the range of between $58 billion and $60 billion, with a 12% contribution from Greater China.
Manufacturing plants of Apple
Manufacturing plants in China that produce Apple’s iPhone and other electronics have begun to reopen, but they are ramping up more slowly than expected, Apple said on Monday. That will mean fewer iPhones available for sale.
One of the primary iPhone manufacturing facilities in China is operating at a 25% factory utilization rate as many workers remain absent, Cowen analysts estimated.
Shares of Apple suppliers Taiwan Semiconductor Co Ltd, Qualcomm Inc, Intel Corp, Broadcom Inc, Texas Instruments Inc, Micron Technology Inc, Microchip Technology Inc, and Qorvo Inc, fell between 1% to 3% in premarket trading.
Shares of European chipmakers STMicroelectronics NV and Dialog Semiconductor were down in the low single digits and Asian supplier Foxconn Technology Co Ltd was down marginally.