Cook's China comments lawsuit gains class-action status
A lawsuit brought against Apple by an English council over comments made by Tim Cook about iPhone demand in China has been granted class-action status.
A group of shareholders led by the UK's Norfolk County Council has succeeded in converting its lawsuit against Apple to a class action version. The move opens the lawsuit up to any affected shareholder, and potentially raises the stakes for the iPhone maker.
The lawsuit deals with commentary by Cook during the November 2018 earnings call, in that the CEO said Apple was seeing sales pressure in some markets. However, Cook went on to state "I would not put China in that category.
In 2019, Apple revised its revenue guidance prediction down because of lower iPhone sales in China. Shareholders, including Norfolk County Council, believe the revised guidance was too late, and that Apple should've foreseen the issue.
After being informed in November 2020 that the shareholders could bring a proposed class-action suit over accusations the company concealed falling sales demand, the group's proposal was granted, reports The Telegraph.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers advised Apple had failed to dismiss the council's efforts to turn the lawsuit into a class-action suit, referring to Apple's arguments on the matter as "distortions."
Norfolk County Council is involved as it runs the Norfolk Pension Fund, valued at multiple billions of pounds. In the original lawsuit, it was claimed the fund lost close to $1 million over the comments.
The change to a class action suit does more than enable more shareholders to join in against Apple, as it also reduces the standard of proof required by claimants. Under a "presumption of reliance," the council wouldn't need to demonstrate that it made trading decisions after hearing Cook's analyst call comments.
According to Apple, Cook's comments were a statement of opinion, and therefore protected. The claim "fails to plead any actionably false or misleading statement."
Read on AppleInsider
A group of shareholders led by the UK's Norfolk County Council has succeeded in converting its lawsuit against Apple to a class action version. The move opens the lawsuit up to any affected shareholder, and potentially raises the stakes for the iPhone maker.
The lawsuit deals with commentary by Cook during the November 2018 earnings call, in that the CEO said Apple was seeing sales pressure in some markets. However, Cook went on to state "I would not put China in that category.
In 2019, Apple revised its revenue guidance prediction down because of lower iPhone sales in China. Shareholders, including Norfolk County Council, believe the revised guidance was too late, and that Apple should've foreseen the issue.
After being informed in November 2020 that the shareholders could bring a proposed class-action suit over accusations the company concealed falling sales demand, the group's proposal was granted, reports The Telegraph.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers advised Apple had failed to dismiss the council's efforts to turn the lawsuit into a class-action suit, referring to Apple's arguments on the matter as "distortions."
Norfolk County Council is involved as it runs the Norfolk Pension Fund, valued at multiple billions of pounds. In the original lawsuit, it was claimed the fund lost close to $1 million over the comments.
The change to a class action suit does more than enable more shareholders to join in against Apple, as it also reduces the standard of proof required by claimants. Under a "presumption of reliance," the council wouldn't need to demonstrate that it made trading decisions after hearing Cook's analyst call comments.
According to Apple, Cook's comments were a statement of opinion, and therefore protected. The claim "fails to plead any actionably false or misleading statement."
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Can't believe anyone has any standing here, and that a judge doesn't throw out the lawsuit as there is no standing whatsoever. This fund manager made the fundamental mistake of buying high and selling low. You win some and lose some as nobody is perfect. Also can't believe fund managers can even be declared a "class".
And let's be honest, at the time of Cook's statement it was just some friction between the US and China. It was a couple weeks later that #45 made a bunch of statements and made things massively worse.
That would seem to me foreclose any lawsuits period.
Funny, I've never relied on the statements of any corporation about their future endeavors when making purchasing or selling shares. I didn't think anyone would be dumb enough to.
As it turned out, even with the 5% shortfall on (gross) revenue, it was Apple Inc. second best quarter based on revenue and profit and a record for earning per share. For sure it would had mostly likely had been the most profitable quarter in Apple Inc. history (at the time), if it weren't for the revenue shortfall. But that is not a certainty.
https://www.macrumors.com/2019/01/29/apple-1q-2019-results/
As it turned out, AAPL ended up higher the day (Jan. 28, 2019) after they reported earning than it was the on the day (Jan. 2, 2019) after Apple Inc. issued the warning. And AAPL finished the year (2019) with a 98% gain. ($39.48 to $73.41) The warning wasn't even a speed bump to AAPL rising share price that year.
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AAPL/history?period1=1541030400&period2=1577836800&interval=1d&filter=history&frequency=1d&includeAdjustedClose=true
The hardest part about making a lot of money investing in AAPL is not about knowing when to buy ...... but knowing when not to sell. Most of my friends that have invested in AAPL regrets selling too early (for no other reason than they thought AAPL has peaked and they didn't want to be greedy), not that they didn't buy AAPL earlier, when it was much cheaper.
Seriously, I get it. You’re pissed off and think it’s just another stick your hand in Apple’s wallet lawsuit. It maybe, in which case I hope it dies quickly, but you and most of the rabid fanboys commenting just don’t know too much about this other than you know you are angry.
I don’t know where the other commenters are getting their data from but in the week after Apple revised their guidance and announced it the company value dropped over $450 billion that day. At the time the company had a market value of $1.1 trillion. Cook knew plenty or was misled. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/03/apple-stock-falls-after-cutting-q1-guidance-on-weak-iphone-sales.html
They are there solely for residents of the area to look after services.
Getting involved in things they should not.
That is not what your link stated. It stated that on the day after Apple warning, AAPL was down $450B from its high from last year. Not yesterday. Apple only lost about 10% of it's market cap, the day after the warning. AAPL went from $39.48 to $35.55. Or a drop of about $70B in market cap. Apple market cap at the time of the warning was only about $700B. Which was down 40% from its 2018 high of $1.1T.
AAPL had already dropped from $51.87 on the Nov. 2 2018 date of Apple 4Q 2018 earnings (where the $89B to $93B revenue estimated was announced.) to $39.48 on the date of the warning. The warning came after market closed. The $35.55 for AAPL on the day after the warning, was the low for the year (2019). AAPL never traded any lower than $35.55, for the rest of the year. And the $3.93 drop in AAPL the day after the warning, did not amount to 40% of Apple market cap.
Apple hit the $1T market cap on Aug. 2, 2018 with AAPL at $51.85. At the time of the warning, AAPL all time high was $58.02 on Oct. 3, 2018. Apple surpassed that high on Oct. 11, 2019 with AAPL closing at $59.05. AAPL ended the year at $73.41.
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AAPL/history?period1=1530403200&period2=1577836800&interval=1d&filter=history&frequency=1d&includeAdjustedClose=true
BTW- Those numbers are split adjusted. If you even know what that means.