Apple Supplier Lowers Outlook, Prompting Stock Slip

Apple stocks fell 5 percent on Monday (Nov. 12) morning after one of its suppliers slashed its outlook.

According to CNBC, Lumentum, which makes lasers that can sense in 3D, announced the latest outlook on Monday. The company manufactures components for the front-facing camera of Apple’s latest iPhones, which enable Face ID, augmented reality (AR) and facial recognition technology.

Lumentum President and CEO Alan Lowe said in a statement: “We recently received a request from one of our largest Industrial and Consumer customers for laser diodes for 3D sensing to materially reduce shipments to them during our fiscal second quarter for previously placed orders that were originally scheduled for delivery during the quarter.”

While Lumentum’s annual filing for the 2018 fiscal year listed Apple as its largest customer, the company didn’t even mention the tech giant by name in its latest report.

Last week, it was reported that Apple told at least some of its suppliers — including the iPhone assemblers Foxconn and Pegatron — to not gear up efforts to boost iPhone XR production. With the new outlook, Foxconn might make 100,000 fewer phones each day.

“For the Foxconn side, it first prepared nearly 60 assembly lines for Apple’s XR model, but recently uses only around 45 production lines, as its top customer said it does not need to manufacture that many by now,” a source said.

All this has brought on concerns over how the new iPhones will fare this holiday season. In a note Monday, Wells Fargo gave Apple a market perform rating and said “investors could consider Lumentum’s updated guide as reflecting as much as a 30 percent cut in Apple orders.” Bank of America Merrill Lynch was a bit more positive, keeping its neutral rating for the company, and adding that the update could indicate an “inventory build and also an earlier start to production … that could magnify the perceived impact of these cuts.”