Submitted by Fred Straker on
After a slide last week, AAPL (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock opened Monday at $98.39 and pushed to a high on Wednesday of $101.13 before losing traction. Friday saw the week's lowest price at $95.53, with the stock rebounding later in the day to close at $97.08. Apple's stock price was essentially flat this week, losing $1.31 (-1.33%) over the five-day period.
Desktop PC sales continued their slide in Q4 of last year, while reports predict market stabilization during 2016. For its part, Apple saw Macs gain in market share over last year's Q4 sales to 7.9%, sharing fourth place in the rankings with Asus. Apple revenue share, however likely tops 15% in the PC market. Lenovo, HP and Dell held the first, second and third place market share rankings, respectively.
This week Apple announced it was dismantling its iAd sales team, and discontinuing the iAd App Network. Publishers will be able to sell advertising directly using the automated iAd platform, and keep 100% of the revenues. The iAd platform, which was first launched in 2010, was never expected to be a significant revenue source for Apple.
Looking forward, Apple will report its Q1 fiscal 2016 earnings next week, on January 26. Analysts Wamsi Mohan (Bank of America Merrill Lynch) and Abhey Lamba (Mizuho) upgraded AAPL stock to buy, with Mohan setting a $130 price target. This is despite estimates of lower earnings per share. So, has Apple stock reached bottom? The market opens Tuesday, January 19th.Markets are closed on Monday in observance of Martin Luther King day.