SAN FRANCISCO—Apple fans keep buying iPhones, but Wall Street keeps worrying the company won’t be able to match last year’s blistering sales pace.
Shares in the world’s most valuable company have fallen more than 15 percent over the last month, amid a drumbeat of news reports that some Asian parts suppliers are expecting Apple to trim orders for its signature smartphone this winter. Those fears were compounded Wednesday when the Wall Street Journal said one of Apple’s most important contractors is sending some workers home on “early holiday” before the Chinese New Year in February.
Even an upbeat report from Apple announcing that its online App Store set a sales record last week failed to boost the stock. Its shares fell just under 2 percent Wednesday and closed at $100.70.
Apple Inc. declined comment Wednesday. But top executives at the Cupertino, California, company said last fall they expected to sell more iPhones during the last three months of 2015 than they did a year earlier, when the company sold a record 74.5 million.
As evidence for his optimism, CEO Tim Cook said in October that a growing number of consumers were switching from rival Android phones to iPhones, while many current iPhone owners had not yet upgraded to newer models. Cook has also cautioned against drawing conclusions based on reports from individual contractors, since the company has an extensive supply and production network.
