Wall Street analyst Brian White of Topeka Capital has built some kind of “Apple Monitor” thing where he monitors the health of the various companies in Asia that supply Apple with parts. For some reason, in February, the whole sector fell off a cliff, Business Insider reports.
White says business at key Apple suppliers dropped 31% in February, a lot worse than the usual 8% drop in February. In fact it was “the worst February we have on record,” White reported.
Hon Hai, which owns Foxconn, Apple’s big manufacturing partner, also had a 25% drop in February, White reported.
Reading Tea Leaves
This fits with other previous reports on Apple suppliers like one where Citigroup said demands for iPhones and iPads had slumped, based on reports on the supply channel. And the one where Digitimes said Apple had cut component orders. Or the one where the Wall Street Journal reported Apple had cut orders for phone parts, which we at ReadWrite also wrote about.
But back in January, one brave voice – Apple blogger John Gruber, aka the world’s smartest man – declared the whole thing to be bullshit. There was nothing wrong with Apple. Apple was doing fine. Apple was the most bestest busiest profitablest company in the history of the world. As history has shown us, any organization that claws its way to the top will remain there forever. Thus Apple would never ever see its growth rate decline. Apple would never fall short of expectations. And if Apple failed to meet Wall Street expectations, it was not because Apple had a bad quarter, but because Wall Street got the numbers wrong. Because Wall Street bad, Apple good. Wall Street stupid, bloggers smart. Anyone who says otherwise is either a corrupt short-selling shill or a moron.
I had to admit, the power of Gruber’s logic was overwhelming. And I think the same line of reasoning applies now. Who cares if all of Apple’s suppliers suddenly saw their sales fall sharply in February? What does that have to do with Apple? How do you take some random numbers from companies you’ve never heard of that are located halfway around the planet and then apply what’s happening to them to Apple?
Pay No Attention To That Analyst Behind The Screen
Oh, sweet, sweet, innocent Apple, the beacon of innovation and all that is good and wonderful and pure. Why do these malcontents feel the need to smear you?
Who is this analyst, Brian White of Topeka Capital? Has anyone ever heard of him? And what is Topeka Capital? Is it even a real company? Why have I never heard of them before? Are they some kind of shell corporation created by hedge fund managers and short-sellers to bash Apple and manipulate the stock? Frankly I don’t trust anything they say.
Bottom line: Everything is fine. Nothing to worry about. Apple is doing great. Now go back to sleep and have another sweet dream about the iWatch, which is going to change your life. Totally.