Apple's revenue revision spawns second class action investigation
Following the revision to Apple's earnings estimates on Wednesday, a second law firm has started investigating Apple's public claims about its disclosures surrounding business in China.
Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri
Just three days after Apple CEO Tim Cook published a revision to Apple's earnings estimate for the holiday quarter, New York's Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman has declared that it too is investigating if Apple has violated federal securities laws.
The lawfirm is questioning facts surrounding the announcement that Apple is expecting to end the quarter with $84 billion in revenue, a figure down more than 7 percent from an anticipated $89 billion to $93 billion forecast issued at the end of fiscal 2018. Cook blamed the cut on weak iPhone demand in Greater China and "other emerging markets" for the most part.
As with the previous investigation announced hours after the earnings revision, the firm is doubting Cook's statement from the previous quarter about business in China.
"Our business in China was very strong last quarter. We grew 16 percent, which we're very happy with," Cook said. "iPhone in particular was very strong, very strong double-digit growth there."
Beyond Apple, Intel, Ford, and other Fortune 500 companies have also expressed concerns about the Chinese economy in November and December 2018. Also like Apple, Intel and Ford noted positive results from China in the quarter ending in September 2018.
Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri
Just three days after Apple CEO Tim Cook published a revision to Apple's earnings estimate for the holiday quarter, New York's Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman has declared that it too is investigating if Apple has violated federal securities laws.
The lawfirm is questioning facts surrounding the announcement that Apple is expecting to end the quarter with $84 billion in revenue, a figure down more than 7 percent from an anticipated $89 billion to $93 billion forecast issued at the end of fiscal 2018. Cook blamed the cut on weak iPhone demand in Greater China and "other emerging markets" for the most part.
As with the previous investigation announced hours after the earnings revision, the firm is doubting Cook's statement from the previous quarter about business in China.
"Our business in China was very strong last quarter. We grew 16 percent, which we're very happy with," Cook said. "iPhone in particular was very strong, very strong double-digit growth there."
Beyond Apple, Intel, Ford, and other Fortune 500 companies have also expressed concerns about the Chinese economy in November and December 2018. Also like Apple, Intel and Ford noted positive results from China in the quarter ending in September 2018.
Comments
The stock market is nothing but legalized gambling, and investors / lawyers are just looking for someone to blame / sue for the recent stock plunge.
If there's one thing Tim Cook is famous for it's not giving away any information about what Apple is doing. Whether that be about future products or how the company is doing financially. He's notoriously vague.
How a realist looks at this statement:
"Our business in China was very strong last quarter (does he mean Apple's initiatives to grow in China on top of the 16th percent?). We grew 16 percent (in what? selling iPhone X? selling services? expanding factories? ramping up production? what exactly?), which we're very happy with. iPhone in particular was very strong, very strong double-digit growth there. (in what? selling services? because it definitely isn't in total iPhone unit sales in China per year)"
How a normal forum Apple fanatic/heretic looks at this statement:
"Our business in China was very strong last quarter (yeah! See Tim Cook said it was strong and he can't lie!). We grew 16 percent (yeah! See! This is growth here. He can't lie about this!), which we're very happy with. iPhone in particular was very strong, very strong double-digit growth there. (clearly Tim Cook said that the iPhone was strong there, and Apple can't lie about it! This is a fact!)"
And this will likely go the way most of these class action lawsuits do: nowhere.
Keep in mind China has implemented a system which is similar to the US credit history/rating but China has Social or Behavior rating which is more than whether you pay your bills on time and China is using this right now to ding people's ratings if they interact with US based companies in China.
Imagine if the US Government could affect US consumers behavior by whacking your social standing in society. Hell we already have the social warriors shaming and banning people on Facebook and Twitter for bad humor. Image if the social warriors went after every person that bought Chinese made products. This is what is going on in China right now.
The Huawei arrest is a poor excuse as well. One, it happened in Canada. Two, in reponse to an extradition request from something that happened during Obama’s tenure and was made by his administration (the details of this are well-reported and well-known; you can look it up). Three, Trump himself was surprised by that news, since it happened while he was in Latin America for the G20 summit (ironically, in a meeting with Xi), and he appears to have been blindsided by it (again, well-reported).
Deep State. Good way to muck up negotiations, no?