Apple shares on rebound after sinking to number four among most valuable companies' list

Cupertino-based consumer tech firm remained the most valuable company for most of the 2018

An Apple store in Beijing. The Greater China market has contributed more than 18 per cent in Apple’s overall revenues in the past four quarters. EPA

Shares of Apple were on the rebound Friday afternoon after they plunged 10 percent on Thursday, marking the worst performance in nearly six years.

Apple, which has lost more than $400 billion since October 2018, has slipped to number four position among global companies in terms of market capitalisation, according to reports.

Cupertino-based consumer tech giant was trailing at number two position, behind Microsoft, till the last week of December. Amazon superseded Apple only a few days back pushing it to number three spot.

But it suffered a major blow on Thursday – following the company’s revised downward outlook – when it was overtaken by Google’s parent company Alphabet, and sank to number four position, reported Bloomberg.

After a strong run-up into 2018, Apple sunk more than 36 percent from its all-time closing high of $232.07 in October. The stock was trading higher on Friday afternoon, above $148.

Apple, which became the first $1 trillion publicly listed US company in August last year, remained the most valuable company for most of the 2018. On November 26, Microsoft briefly surpassed it as world's most valuable company. At that time Microsoft’s market cap was $812.93bn slightly ahead of Apple, which stood at $812.60bn.

However, Microsoft’s glory was short-lived as in the late-afternoon trading, Apple's value again outshined Microsoft by almost $7bn.

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The greater China market has contributed more than 18 per cent in Apple’s overall revenues in the last four quarters. Now, a weaker Chinese economy, slowed by the ongoing US-China trade war, is stymieing Apple's bottom line.

“While we anticipated some challenges in key emerging markets, we did not foresee the magnitude of the economic deceleration, particularly in Greater China,” Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook wrote in a letter that was sent to investors.

On the fears of weakening Chinese economy, Apple shares have tumbled almost 10 per cent on Thursday, with the company dropping nearly 38 per cent since August 2018.

Chinese tech giant Huawei, which is catering to both low- and high-income customers, had dethroned Apple from the second spot in smartphone shipments in the Middle East and Africa in the second quarter of 2018, according to the GFK May 2018 report.

Worldwide, South Korean company Samsung retains the biggest global market share of smartphones at 18.9 per cent, according to US researcher firm Gartner. Samsung is followed by Huawei and Apple with 13.4 and 11.8 per cent, respectively.