Making Sense of Apple Inc. Valuation

Making Sense of Apple Inc. Valuation - By ValueWalk Contributor, Dr. Brad Cornell - Brad Cornell teaches financial economics at the California Institute of Technology

When Apple’s stock price moves significantly it is hard not to pay attention.  The company is iconic and its products are everywhere.  Apple’s stock price hit a high of $134.54 on April 28, 2015.  It closed on Friday at $96.61, a drop of $37.93 or more than 28%.  That translates into the disappearance of more than $209 billion in equity valuation.

The question, of course, is why the drop?  The popular answer in the financial media is a shortfall in the sales of the new iPhone 6s and 6s plus.  This shortfall has been inferred...