Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview Tuesday that the Silicon Valley giant is “probably under-appreciated” by naysayers who are skeptical about the company’s prospects.
The stock of Apple has lost more than a third of its value since its August 2018 high amid concerns that its exposure to China’s slowing economy would hurt its prospects in coming quarters. Cook said on CNBC that naysayers have expressed concern about the company “over and over again” throughout the years.
“I’m not defensive on it,” Cook said. “My honest opinion is that there is a culture of innovation in Apple and that culture of innovation combined with these incredible, loyal customers, happy customers, this ecosystem, this virtuous ecosystem, is something that is probably under-appreciated.”
Last week, Cook posted a letter to shareholders on Apple’s web site saying that revenue in the last quarter of 2018 would be $84 billion. That figure is 4.8% below the $88.3 billion revenue in the same quarter a year earlier. It’s also far short of the forecast Apple gave investors only two months ago, which saw revenue in the quarter coming in between $89 billion and $93 billion. The news added to the recent selloff in Apple’s stock.
“I’m never surprised by the market, to be honest with you, because I think the market is quite emotional in the short term,” Cook said. “We sort of look through all of that. We think about the long term. And so when I look at the long-term health of the company, it has never been better. The product pipeline has never been better. The ecosystem has never been stronger. The services are on a tear.”
Apple’s stock closed Tuesday up $2.82 a share, or 1.9%, at $150.75.