News · Yahoo Finance

Higher memory prices take a bite out of Apple's margins

Apple beat estimates for iPhone and Services revenue in Q4, but its stock fell after management said rising memory prices driven by the AI buildout will weigh more on margins. CFO Kevan Parekh expects Q1 to be the best quarter ever, but guided gross margin to 45% to 46%, down from 47.89% in Q4 and 48.16% a year earlier, citing higher memory costs and the ramp-up of Siri AI. CEO John Ternus called memory pricing “unprecedented,” and Apple raised manufacturing purchase obligations by $33 billion from the June to September quarter. Apple also expects supply constraints on Mac and iPad in Q1, while Micron and SK Hynix say the memory shortage could last until 2030.

Summary written by Upside AI from the original article. Read the source for full details.

Read the original on Yahoo Finance ↗

Keywords

AAPLsemiconductorsprofit marginsearnings

Open a keyword to see other news on the same topic.

Related tickers and likely impact

AAPL

▼ Likely negative

Apple Inc.

Relevance: medium

MarketUS stocks
SectorInformation Technology
IndustryTechnology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals
Market cap$5.1T
Close on 11/02/2026338.32
Change that session-1.83%
AAPL price, forecasts and signals →

Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.

Related news

  • Apple Stock Fell After a Record iPhone Quarter. Here’s the Margin Problem Investors Shouldn’t Ignore.

    Apple stock fell about 2% on Tuesday despite a record September quarter, with revenue up 12% to $114.5 billion and iPhone revenue up 17.5% to $57.6 billion, above the $56.5 billion estimate. The main concern is gross margin: the 47.9% figure included roughly 1 percentage point of tariff refunds, and guidance for the December quarter is 45%-46% as higher memory chip prices weigh on costs. The article estimates that each percentage point of margin on $114.5 billion in revenue equals about $1.1 billion of gross profit. iPad revenue fell 10% and wearables revenue fell 8%. Apple trades at about 35 times expected earnings, and the author, who remains bullish, says the December-quarter margin against the 45%-46% forecast will be a key point to watch.

    Yahoo Finance·▼ AAPLAAPLearningsprofit margins
  • Apple Stocks Slide 3.66% as Memory Costs Pressure Holiday Margins

    Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) fell 3.66% to $325.95 at 9:30 a.m. ET on November 3 as investors focused on a profit squeeze in the holiday quarter. Reuters reported that higher memory costs will pressure profitability, with gross margin for the December quarter expected at 45% to 46%. In the September quarter, Apple reported revenue of $114.5 billion, up 12%, diluted EPS of $2.10, up 14%, and operating cash flow of $28 billion. Its 47.9% gross margin included about one percentage point from tariff refunds, which added $0.05 to EPS; excluding that, the baseline is about 46.9%, and the December guidance midpoint of 45.5% is 1.4 percentage points lower. The GuruFocus GF Score is 95 out of 100, and the stock trades at 37.37 times earnings, with strong profitability and growth but a less compelling valuation.

    Yahoo Finance·▼ AAPLAAPLprofit marginssemiconductors
  • Apple Stocks Move Lower With Earnings Facing a Distorted Margin Comparison

    Apple (AAPL) shares fell 1.15% to $340.68 at 9:40 a.m. ET on November 2, ahead of results due tonight. Apple's prior-quarter gross margin was 50.1%, but excluding a disclosed tariff-refund benefit of about two percentage points brings the comparison to roughly 48.1%, which may give a clearer view of underlying profitability. Apple reported $109.4 billion in revenue in its July 30 release, and Reuters' November 2 preview cites LSEG estimates of $113.39 billion for fiscal fourth-quarter revenue, including $31.56 billion from Services. With rising memory costs in focus, Services would account for roughly 27.8% of revenue under those estimates, making it a key test of Apple's ability to defend profitability. GuruFocus shows a GF Score of 95/100 and a P/E of 39.06, and the article says the report needs to show how underlying margins and the holiday-quarter outlook compare with expectations.

    Yahoo Finance·▼ AAPLAAPLearningsprofit margins
  • Apple Services Unit Faces Near-Term Pressure as Memory Costs Weigh on Margin Guidance, Morgan Stanley SaysYahoo Finance·▼ AAPLAAPLsemiconductorsprofit margins
  • Apple faces valuation test as slowing Services growth and rising costs weigh

    Apple shares fell more than 2% as analysts weighed strong iPhone demand against slowing Services growth and rising component costs. Guidance for the December quarter of $154 billion to $158 billion topped the $153 billion consensus, but gross margin is guided to 45% to 46%, down from 47.9%, and Services growth to 8% to 9%, from 10%. Bank of America reiterated its Buy rating and $370 price target, citing 17% iPhone revenue growth, while UBS raised its target to $340 and expects the forward P/E to compress to about 31 times from roughly 36 times. Jefferies said iPhone growth of 17% fell short of its 26% forecast and that shares remain expensive relative to slowing growth.

    Yahoo Finance·▼ AAPLAAPLvaluationprofit margins
  • Apple's Narrowing Margins Overshadow Upbeat Holiday Forecast

    Apple gave a mixed outlook in its first quarterly report under CEO John Ternus, with tightening profit margins overshadowing an upbeat sales forecast. Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives & Co. praised Apple's AI strategy, saying the company has spent very little on AI while its installed base keeps growing. He estimates that about 20% of people worldwide will access AI through Apple devices, and that about 15% of services revenue over the coming years could be AI-related, which he values at about $75 per share. He puts the sum-of-the-parts value of services at $150 to $175 per share, citing services margins that are double those of hardware. Ives also said free cash flow modeled for fiscal 27 into 28 is almost triple its pre-COVID level.

    Yahoo Finance·▼ AAPLAAPLprofit marginsearnings

Related markets

US stocks →

Latest news

  • Democrats map out an agenda to address affordability and corruption after midterm sweep

    Newly elected Democratic majorities in the Senate and House plan to pass a flurry of bills soon after taking office in January, focusing on affordability, including high costs for gas and groceries, CNBC reports. In their first 100 hours, House Democrats plan to restore expired enhanced health insurance subsidies and reverse Medicaid cuts Trump signed last year, while the party also plans to push a bill undoing his sweeping tariffs and to vote again on ending the Iran war. Democrats are also mapping oversight investigations of Trump, his family, cabinet and business supporters, though Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said targets have not yet been evaluated. Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, pledged to make billionaires pay their fair share of taxes and to scrutinize insurers and pharmaceutical CEOs. Some Democrats are also pushing an ethics package that could ban stock trading by officials and limit super PAC spending.

    CNBC·Democratic Partytariffshealthcare
  • These stocks have soared the most today after the Democrats trounced Trump

    Stanley Black & Decker was the strongest performer in the S&P 500 today. Several tech companies and associated power providers posted sharp declines.

    MarketWatch·▲ QQQ▲ SPYS&P 500Democratic Partytech stocks
  • Is Broadcom Stock a Buy Now?

    Broadcom shares are down 31% from their all-time high and 4% since the start of 2026, hit by a semiconductor sell-off after Intel's disappointing fourth-quarter guidance. Yet the author notes fiscal third-quarter AI semiconductor revenue of $16.7 billion beat the $16 billion target, up 221% year over year, and total revenue reached $29.6 billion, up 86%. Management guided to $21.7 billion in AI semiconductor revenue for the fourth quarter, up 236%. Risks remain, including competition from Google's expanded Marvell partnership, and the stock trades at 28.3 times forward earnings. The author still considers the valuation justified by the results and finds the shares attractive below their peak.

    Yahoo Finance·Broadcomsemiconductorsartificial intelligence
  • Canton Coin Gets SEC Nod as Wall Street Tokenization Heats Up

    The SEC's Division of Corporation Finance said it views Canton Coin as a “digital commodity” and won't recommend enforcement action if validators and application providers mint the token programmatically without registering it. The staff relied on Canton's representations that the token's value comes from network operation and supply and demand, and that the network has no “central party.” Canton launched without an initial coin offering or premine, with tokens earned only by running network infrastructure and applications. The relief arrived a week after DTCC launched a tokenization service on Canton that lets firms convert DTC-held stocks and Treasuries into tokens, and Morgan Stanley said it was among the first banks to use it. The SEC noted the letter reflects only staff's enforcement position, not a legal conclusion, and rests on the facts Canton presented. Digital Asset, which created the Canton Network, raised $355 million earlier this year from Wall Street firms and a sovereign wealth fund.

    Decrypt·▲ BTC/USDTcryptoregulationWall Street
  • Blue Chips Surge Past 2.8% as VIX Drops Below 18 While Oil Sinks Nearly 8%

    In a single session, the Dow jumped 2.87% to a record 53,275.11, the S&P 500 gained 1.74% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.89%, while the VIX fell to 17.08. WTI crude dropped 7.44% to $88.94 a barrel, while gold rose 3.38% to $4,073.40 an ounce and silver gained 5.16%. In earnings news, Amgen reported third-quarter total revenues up 8% to $10.4 billion, and Thomson Reuters' revenues rose 10% to $1,833 million. Agnico Eagle Mines posted quarterly net income of $1,353 million, or $2.67 per share, and returned $478 million to shareholders.

    Yahoo Finance·▲ QQQ▲ SPYS&P 500Dow Jonesoil prices
  • Alphabet (GOOGL) Is Spending $15 Billion On Malaysia Data Centers

    Alphabet (GOOGL) announced a US$15b investment in 2026 to expand Google data centers and AI infrastructure in Malaysia. The expansion includes new cloud facilities meant to serve regional AI demand from enterprise and public sector clients. In a separate development, an Alphabet shareholder sued senior executives, alleging Google's AI models were trained on copyrighted material without proper authorization. The article notes that if courts require tighter controls on training data or raise compliance costs, the AI services built on this infrastructure could face heavier constraints.

    Yahoo Finance·▲ GOOGLGOOGLdata centersartificial intelligence

All news →

Get the briefing on Telegram or Zalo

Join the Upside Telegram channel or Zalo group for the Vietnam stocks and gold briefing at 8:00 and 19:00 (Vietnam time) on trading days, plus a weekly wrap on Saturday morning.