CUPERTINO — Apple shares rose slightly Tuesday, and for nearly the entire trading day helped Wall Street rebound from a multiday string of brutal losses, even though the stock market tumbled into the red yet again.
For Cupertino-based Apple to post a gain on a day when the closely watched Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.3 percent to 15,666 shows how strong the company has become, analysts said.
On Monday, Apple wasn’t able to stave off the stock market rout, but it sustained fewer losses than other members of the Dow.
“Apple has become a huge influence” both on the stock market and the tech sector, said Tim Bajarin, principal analyst with Campbell-based Creative Strategies, a tech market analyst. “Apple has emerged not only as the most profitable company in the world, but one of the most important companies in the world.”
Shares of Apple rose just over 0.6 percent, joining Disney, which posted a nearly 0.6 percent upswing, as the only Dow components that managed a gain Tuesday.
The other four companies in the Dow that are based in the Bay Area all suffered a share loss of at least 1 percent.
Santa Clara-based Intel fell 1.5 percent, San Francisco-based Visa was down 2 percent, San Jose-based Cisco Systems slumped 2.3 percent and San Ramon-based Chevron tumbled 2.9 percent.
Stocks in the United States and other markets tumbled in recent days over worries about the slowing economy in China.
Apple briefly led a stock market rally Monday after comments from Apple CEO Tim Cook that the company’s business in China was looking strong.
But the upswing in the stock market ran out of steam in the latter stages of the sessions both Monday and Tuesday, when the broad-based S&P 500 fell 1.4 percent and the tech-focused Nasdaq slipped 0.4 percent.
It was in early March of this year that Wall Street officials announced that Apple would join the Dow, replacing long-term stalwart AT&T. Analysts noted that during the 10 years that preceded the announcement, Apple’s stock had risen 1,967 percent, AT&T was up 39 percent, and the Dow had risen 66 percent.
That surge in Apple’s stock has been driven by solid financial growth.
“Apple had about $5 billion in revenue in 2001, which was down $2 billion from the year before, but since then it’s been hockey stick growth,” said Michael Tchong, principal analyst with Social Revolution. “They had the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, and it’s been going ever since.”
Apple in fiscal 2001 posted revenue of $5.36 billion, but by fiscal 2014 the company’s sales had zoomed to $182.8 billion, slipping a bit in fiscal 2015 to $182.21 billion.
“Apple is successful because they push the envelope of innovation,” Tchong said.
Of course, past performance is no guarantee of future success. Since Apple replaced AT&T on the Dow, the tech giant’s shares have nose-dived 19.2 percent, while the Dow has drooped 13.3 percent.
Despite the string of losses on Wall Street and in world markets, analysts believe Silicon Valley remains robust.
“For the most part, the tech sector is in solid shape,” said Rob Enderle, principal analyst with San Jose-based Enderle Group, which tracks the technology sector. “High tech is not recession-proof and tech stocks can be vulnerable to market swings. But overall, the fundamentals of tech are good, and the sector looks pretty safe.”
Besides Apple’s extensive operations in China, Intel is a big player in that market as well, with 19.4 percent of its revenue from that nation.
And while Mountain View-based Google isn’t a factor in China, it’s one of the most dominant corporations in just about every other corner of the globe.
“Google is almost bulletproof,” Enderle said. “The risks for Google are primarily regulatory and fines. They are almost a monopoly. Google is a money machine.”
Contact George Avalos at 408-859-5167. Follow him at Twitter.com/georgeavalos.
