Should I Worry About Apple’s Falling Share Price?

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By Trey Thoelcke Published

Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) share price erosion has taken the top spot of the financial news recently. The stock has fallen 17% over the past three months. A debate over why this happened rages between analyst who love the stock and those who hate it. But, without a large consensus, the debate has no center.

Apple’s new products, which include the iPhone 5 and mini iPad, have sold well, but perhaps not as well as many investors would like. However, no one has strong evidence that this Christmas season will be less than a sales triumph for the world’s largest public company by market cap.

One reason why shares have fallen may have to do with the profit-taking theory. Apple’s share price rose as much as 70% year-to-date in September. Wisdom would dictate that prudent investor take some of those profits and lock them in. It makes sense. What other mega-cap stock has delivered such great returns in 2012? But Apple remains higher by 30% so far this year, while the S&P shows an improvement of less than 10%.

Worriers about Apple’s shares should settle down.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

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