Topline
The first day of trading of 2023 brought more unwelcome milestones for Apple and Tesla’s stocks, as investors soured on predictions of limitless growth potential for two American companies long heralded by Wall Street for their history of innovation and strong bottom lines.
Apple and Tesla led Tuesday's selloff.
Key Facts
Apple shares fell by as much as 4.4% to $124.17 Tuesday after the company reportedly instructed Asian manufacturers to slow production of some of the company’s products due to weakening demand against a weak global macroeconomic environment, recovering slightly to close down 3.7% at $125.07.
That’s Apple’s lowest close since June 2021, dragging down the tech giant’s market capitalization to $1.99 trillion, its first time below $2 trillion in 19 months.
Tesla stock crashed by as much as 15% to $104.64 after its latest quarterly electric vehicle deliveries fell short of analyst estimates, hitting its lowest price since August 2020 and a roughly 75% drop from its split-adjusted high of $410 in November 2021, before paring some losses to close at $108.10, a 12.2% drop.
That’s Tesla’s worst daily drop since September 8, 2020, and the stock’s 16th worst day since its 2010 initial public offering, according to Yahoo Finance data.
Apple and Tesla’s nosedives moved against modest declines for the market as a whole, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq each falling less than 1%.
Key Background
Apple, which remains the world’s largest company by market cap, briefly was worth more than $3 trillion last January before the company’s stock fell 27% over the course of 2022 in the market’s worst year since 2008. The poor performance for the Cupertino, California-based company was still far better than the greater than 50% 2022 declines for shares of Apple peers Meta and Amazon. Apple’s drop largely tracked the historic tech selloff, though slumping demand for the iPhone 14 and manufacturing headwinds in China also affected the stock. Headlining the dismal 2022 for stocks was Tesla, which was the second worst-performing stock on the S&P with a more than 70% annual decline. Among the factors bringing down Tesla shares were growing demand concerns and the unpopular “antics” of its billionaire CEO Elon Musk, who has sold $22.9 billion in Tesla shares after agreeing to buy Twitter for $44 billion in April. Musk has also served as the social media company’s CEO since October, a tenure marred by controversy.
Contra
The latest delivery report is merely an “incremental negative” for Tesla, Goldman Sachs analysts led by Mark Delaney wrote in a Monday note to clients, elaborating the bank sees “Tesla as well positioned for long-term growth given its position as a cost and full solution leader in clean mobility” and electric vehicles. More broadly, Wedbush analysts Dan Ives and John Katsingris predicted the tech sector would gain about 20% in 2023 following last year’s “horror show,” naming Apple its top overall tech stock.
Surprising Fact
Tesla’s TK% dip Tuesday was the largest decline of any company with a market cap over $20 billion.
Further Reading
Here’s How Tesla Stock’s 69% Crash In 2022 Compares To Other Slumping Stocks (Forbes)
Tesla Posts Record EV Deliveries In Fourth Quarter – But Misses Expectations (Forbes)
