By Jesse Cohen
Investing.com - Apple's surprise warning that it would not meet its revenue guidance for the current quarter because of the coronavirus briefly sent tremors through global financial markets earlier this week.
The tech giant said Monday that all of its iPhone manufacturing facilities in China have begun to reopen, but they are ramping up more slowly than expected.
Some of its retail stores in the country remain closed or are operating at reduced hours, which will hurt sales this quarter.
"Work is starting to resume around the country, but we are experiencing a slower return to normal conditions than we had anticipated. As a result, we do not expect to meet the revenue guidance we provided for the March quarter due to two main factors," the company said in a press release.
In late January, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had forecast $63 billion to $67 billion in revenue for the quarter ending in March.
It did not offer a new revenue estimate nor provide a profit forecast.
The billion-dollar question: Is the financial fallout from coronavirus a short-term problem or a longer-term trend?
Analysts so far appear mostly unfazed by the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) coronavirus impact. The prevailing view is that the effect will be temporary, and that the company’s core strengths mean the medium- and long-term outlook remains good.
Investors appear to be taking the same view.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock rose 1.4% on Wednesday, recouping most of the losses in the preceding session suffered in the wake of the surprise sales warning.
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-- Reuters contributed to this report