Apple sold fewer phones than analysts expected, and fewer than they did last year. They sold 77.3m phones, and analysts expected them to sell 80.2m. They had

Apple sold fewer phones than analysts expected, and fewer than they did last year. They sold 77.3m phones, and analysts expected them to sell 80.2m. They had greater revenue because the average price of phones has gone up. Apple issued guidance for this quarter that they expected revenue to be $60-62b. Analysts expected revenue of $65.9b. Stocks are priced on the expectation of the future, so the change in the expectation has probably had a negative effect on the price. As an individual investor (disclosure: I own a little AAPL) I think it is foolish to worry quarterly earnings and revenue forecasts. Yet it is what people write about. It is easier to write about quarterly earnings then it is to write about industry trends, in the same way it is easier to write about polls than it is to write about policy. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-01/apple-forecast-falls-short-as-iphone-sales-miss-estimates https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-01/apple-for...