Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Apple Inc. (AAPL) Shares Plummet Following Tim Cook's Firing Spree




It would seem that Hurricane Sandy is not the only storm to hit the East Coast this week. Another storm hit Wall Street today, as the market reopened, in fact it also hit the West Coast of the country as well.

As we previously reported, Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, went on a firing spree last week, relieving two top executives of their positions. While I personally believe that the move was a smart one, and will prove beneficial in the long run, investors in Apple's stock do not seem to carry the same sentiments.

Apple's shares plunged to $591 this morning in early sessions of trading. The choice to fire these executives is believed to be a major cause of the quick drop in pricing. ValueWalk writer, Nicholas Maithya, reported that Apple is one of the few companies who actually benefited from the huge "FrankenStorm", as weather men around the nation have dubbed Sandy.

Had the markets opened on Monday and Tuesday for electronic trading, the stock could have taken a much larger hit. However, it seems that although some suffering was underway for the stock in early trading, investors appear to have regained some of their confidence in the tech giant.

The stock is currently trading at $596.30, which is still nowhere near the high water mark set a few weeks ago, when the stock was trading in the $700 price range. I stand behind my belief that Tim Cook did the right thing in removing the tow executives. Cook is a very savvy man, who knows his job well, and he will undoubtedly lead Apple to even greater heights throughout the rest of his remaining contract.