news/GOOG/2023.01.03/Apple's stock market value falls below $2 trillion.txt

Jan 3 (Reuters) - Apple Inc's stock market
value shrank sharply on Tuesday following its steep drop last
year, leaving it below $2 trillion for the first time since
March 2021.The sell-off came a year after the iPhone maker became the
first company to reach the $3 trillion market capitalization
milestone.Apple's shares declined 3.7% to $125.07 after Exane BNP
Paribas analyst Jerome Ramel downgraded the company to "neutral"
from "outperform," slashing his price target to $140 from $180,
according to Refinitiv Eikon.Also exacerbating investors' worries that a slowing
global economy and high inflation may be hurting demand for
Apple devices, Nikkeireported, citing unnamed suppliers, that Apple has told suppliers to
manufacture fewer parts for its ear buds, watches and laptops.The drop in Apple's share price put its market
capitalization at $1.99 trillion.Ramel cut his iPhone shipment targets for fiscal 2023 to 224
million units from 245 million units, reflecting supply chain
issues from manufacturer Foxconn and consumers cutting back
spending on high-end phones.At Apple's current stock price, the company's value is just
ahead of Microsoft Corp, valued at about $1.8 trillion.With investors worried about consumer demand, analysts on
average expect the Cupertino, California company to report a 1%
drop in December-quarter revenue in the coming weeks, according
to Refinitiv. That would mark Apple's first quarterly revenue
decline since the March quarter of 2019."They (Apple) tend to skew to the high-end consumer device
customer but even that demographic might be being affected by
the high price of everything," Bokeh Capital Partners' Kim
Forrest said.Last year's steep sell-off on Wall Street punished
tech-related heavyweights as investors worried about rising
interest rates dumped stocks with high valuations.The combined stock market value of Apple, Microsoft,
Amazon.com Inc, Alphabet Inc and Meta
Platforms now accounts for about 18% of the S&P 500,
down from as much as 24% in 2020.Even after its 27% drop last year, Apple has provided
stellar returns to long-term shareholders. Investors who bought
and held Apple shares when cofounder Steve Jobs launched the
iPhone in 2007 have enjoyed a gain of over 4,000%, not including
dividends, compared to a 180% gain in the S&P 500 over the same
period.(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun
Koyyur and Richard Chang)