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Asian iPhone Suppliers May Join U.S. Slide After Apple Target Cut

Asia IPhone Suppliers Join U.S. Slide After Apple Target Cut

(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.

Asian iPhone Suppliers May Join U.S. Slide After Apple Target Cut

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 Infineon
  • Watch 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

--With assistance from Sarah Ponczek, Divya Balji and Philip Glamann.

To contact the reporters on this story: Catherine Larkin in Chicago at clarkin4@bloomberg.net;Matthew Burgess in Sydney at mburgess46@bloomberg.net;Yu-Huay Sun in Taipei at ysun7@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Arie Shapira at ashapira3@bloomberg.net, Tim Smith, Ryan Lovdahl

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.