Apple stock falls on chip shortage concerns despite blockbuster earnings

Apple knocked investors’ expectations out of the park with a strong second quarter earnings report Tuesday evening — but the company’s stock fell sharply on Wednesday morning as the company warned that supply constraints will hurt future sales.

Apple shares were trading down about 2.8 percent shortly at as low as $142.71 shortly after market open on Wednesday, before recovering somewhat to $146.23 later in the morning, according to MarketWatch data. 

Amid Apple’s blockbuster second quarter earnings presentation — in which surging sales for iPhones, Macs and iPads catapulted revenue to $81.4 billion — was a warning that the ongoing semiconductor shortage will affect revenue in the third quarter.

In a call with investors, Apple CEO Tim Cook warned that chip supply constraints would hurt iPhone and iPad sales in the July through September quarter.

Apple’s warning about the chip shortage — which has also roiled the auto industry —appeared to spook some investors.

But Wedbush Securities managing director Dan Ives struck an optimistic tone, saying in an investor note that Apple’s “outlook was healthy and clearly cautioned with chip shortage comments, a prudent and smart approach heading into its next iPhone launch in September.”

He added that he expects demand for Apple’s next iPhone to be just as strong as the wildly popular iPhone 12, which will drive up profit in the next year despite supply chain concerns.

Microsoft, meanwhile, also saw its stock fall briefly Wednesday morning despite a strong quarterly performance, potentially due to investor worries about slower growth in its Azure cloud computing business.

Google, by contrast, saw its stock skyrocket 4.3 percent on Wednesday to $2,751.59 after reporting record quarterly revenue and profit. The company especially benefitted from surging YouTube and search advertising revenue.