As everyone begins to look back on 2014’s highs and lows, it’s obvious that Apple Inc. (AAPL) investors have had a lot to smile about. Shares of Apple stock currently have a sweet 42% climb in the books since the year kicked off — a run made even more impressive when we consider that the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have only posted gains of 13% and 15% respectively.
Looking forward, many folks think the run for AAPL stock could continue, too. InvestorPlace’s Jeff Reeves just tossed out 10 reasons to buy Apple stock in 2015, noting that, “Apple is seeing strong demand for both old and new products, and its balance sheet is one of the most enviable on Wall Street.”
But before we look too far ahead, let’s take a look back at what had AAPL stock moving in 2014. We take a look at some of the biggest one-day moves in Apple, along with the news that shook up the charts.
AAPL Stock: Jan. 27
Apple stock started off slow in 2014, taking an ugly one-day beating in the first month of the year. Shares of AAPL stock fell 8% in late January following a not-so-hot Apple earnings report.
The main issue? While Apple did sell a record number of iPhones, the tally fell short of analyst expectations. The Apple earnings report showed that 51 million iPhones were sold during the quarter, while Wall Street analysts were expecting closer to 57 million iPhones. The weakness was mostly homegrown; North American sales fell 1% year-over-year in the three-month period.
AAPL Stock: April 23
Perhaps the biggest piece of Apple news for 2014 came in the next Apple earnings report, though. The head-turning news was a whopping 7-for-1 stock split, announced on April 23, causing shares of AAPL stock to jump up more than 8% the following day. The monster stock split came on top of more stock buybacks, an increased dividend and strong earnings that exceeded analyst expectations.
The momentum continued for several days thanks in part to some analyst upgrades. Apple stock gained around 12% between April 23 and the end of the month.
AAPL Stock: June 9
Apple didn’t waste much time between announcing the stock split and taking action, either. On June 9, the aforementioned split took place, sending the Apple stock price tag from around $645 to around $95.
This marked the fourth time Apple had split its stock since going public, and was meant to make shares more affordable for everyday investors. (You can read more about the Apple stock split here.)
AAPL Stock: July 31
While Apple stock maintained pretty impressive momentum from the time the stock split was announced until the end of the year, it did hit some small bumps here and there.
For instance, shares of AAPL stock fell almost 3% in late July as reports surfaced that the Apple TV launch was being delayed.
AAPL Stock: Sept. 2
Some struggles were evident in early September as well, with Apple stock suffering a 5% two-day slide. And USA Today put this slide in context, noting:
“That might not sound like much, but given Apple’s size, the three-day decline has erased $31.0 billion in investor value. That’s greater than the value of more than half the stocks in the Standard & Poor’s 500.”
The reason for the slide? Security issues and innovation concerns weighed on the stock.
AAPL Stock: Sept. 25
Later in September, Apple stock again got slapped with a selloff. Shares of AAPL stock fell almost 4% thanks to the perfect storm of general market weakness, “Bendgate” and issues with the latest version of the iPhone operating system.
AAPL Stock: Nov. 28
Last but not least, we have our most recent day of note for Apple stock.
Late November didn’t feature a huge one-day explosion or slide for shares of AAPL, but instead represented an inflection point. Despite the aforementioned stumbling blocks, shares of Apple stock climbed pretty steadily from late April until late November.
Since then, however, Apple stock is sitting in the red. On Nov. 28, year-to-date gains for AAPL tallied close to 50%, but have slowed 4% since then.
As of this writing, Robert Martin did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
