Apple facing securities-fraud lawsuit over hiding iPhone sales drop

SAN DIEGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP(http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/appleinc/) today announced that a class action has been commenced by an institutional investor on behalf of purchasers of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) common stock during the period between November 2, 2018 and January 2, 2019 (the “Class Period”). This action was filed in the Northern District of California and is captioned City of Roseville Employees’ Retirement System v. Apple Inc., et al., No. 19-cv-2033.

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The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 permits any investor who purchased Apple common stock during the Class Period to seek appointment as lead plaintiff. A lead plaintiff acts on behalf of all other class members in directing the litigation. The lead plaintiff can select a law firm of its choice. An investor’s ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than 60 days from today. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff’s counsel, Darren Robbins of Robbins Geller at 800/449-4900 or 619/231-1058, or via e-mail at djr@rgrdlaw.com. You can view a copy of the complaint as filed at http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/appleinc/.

The complaint charges Apple and certain of its officers with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Apple designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and online services. The Company’s most well-known products include its iconic iPhone smartphones, the iPad tablet computer, and the Mac personal computer. The iPhone, which is one of the Company’s flagship products, generated approximately two-thirds of Apple’s revenue in 2018.

The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants made materially false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose adverse information regarding Apple’s business and prospects. Specifically, defendants failed to disclose that: (a) the U.S.-China trade war had negatively impacted demand for iPhones and Apple’s pricing power in greater China; (b) due to Apple discounting the cost of replacement batteries to make up for the Company’s prior conduct of intentionally degrading the performance of the batteries in older iPhones, the rate at which Apple customers were replacing their batteries in older iPhones, rather than purchasing new iPhones, was negatively impacting Apple’s iPhone sales growth; (c) as a result of slowing demand, Apple had slashed production orders from suppliers for the new 2018 iPhone models and cut prices to reduce inventory; and (d) defendants’ decision to withhold unit sales for iPhones and other hardware, which was a metric relevant to investors and their view of the Company’s financial performance, was designed to and would mask declines in unit sales of the Company’s flagship product. As a result of this information being withheld from the market during the Class Period, the price of Apple stock was artificially inflated to more than $209 per share.

Then on January 2, 2019, after the close of trading, Apple disclosed that, for the first time in 15 years, Apple would miss its prior quarterly revenue forecast amid falling iPhone sales in China, its third-largest market after the United States and Europe. The Company announced first quarter fiscal 2019 revenues of only $84 billion, far below the expected range of $89 billion to $93 billion the Company had announced just eight weeks earlier on November 1, 2018. The Company also admitted that in addition to macroeconomics in the Chinese market, the price cuts to battery replacements a year earlier to fix the Company’s prior surreptitious conduct had hurt iPhone sales. This news caused the market price of Apple common stock to decline more than $15 per share, or more than 9%, from a close of $157.92 per share on January 2, 2019 to a close of $142.19 per share on January 3, 2019.

Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of Apple common stock during the Class Period (the “Class”). The plaintiff is represented by Robbins Geller, which has extensive experience in prosecuting investor class actions including actions involving financial fraud.

Robbins Geller is a national law firm representing investors in securities litigation. With 200 lawyers in 10 offices, Robbins Geller has obtained many of the largest securities class action recoveries in history. For five consecutive years, ISS Securities Class Action Services has ranked the Firm in its annual SCAS Top 50 Report as one of the top law firms in both the amount recovered for shareholders and the total number of class action settlements. Robbins Geller attorneys have helped shape the securities laws and recovered tens of billions of dollars on behalf of aggrieved victims. Beyond securing financial recoveries for defrauded investors, Robbins Geller also advocates for corporate governance reforms, helping to improve the financial markets for investors worldwide. Please visit http://www.rgrdlaw.com for more information.

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