NEW YORK, May 29, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bernstein Liebhard LLP announced today that nineteen days remain to make a motion for lead plaintiff in a class action pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of all persons or entities (the “Class”) who purchased the common stock of Apple Inc. (“Apple” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: AAPL) during the period between August 1, 2017 and January 2, 2019 (the “Class Period”). The complaint alleges that defendants violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff in the Apple class action, you must move the court no later than June 17, 2019. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery does not require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you take no action, you may remain an absent class member.
Apple designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, consumer software, and online services. The Company’s most well-known products include the iPad tablet, the Mac personal computer, and the iPhone smartphone. The iPhone was responsible for generating nearly two-thirds of Apple’s revenue in 2018.
On January 23, 2017, Apple released a software update which secretly slowed the performance of certain iPhones with battery-related issues. Throughout 2017, these undisclosed intentional slowdowns led consumers to prematurely believe their devices had become obsolete, leading them to upgrade their iPhones at a fast rate. Beginning on August 1, 2017, Apple began to report a record number of iPhone upgrades. In December 2017, Apple revealed it had been intentionally slowing down certain iPhones, also disclosing that the problem was battery-related, as opposed to device-related. Following this revelation, Apple offered discounted replacement batteries throughout 2018 in light of public outrage.
Plaintiffs allege that during the Class Period, Defendants misled investors by making materially false and misleading statements as each of the Defendants knew and failed to disclose or deliberately disregarded that: (1) the intentional slowdown of certain model iPhones, unsustainably boosted iPhone sales during 2017 and cannibalized future sales; (2) the Company’s replacement battery program during 2018 (enacted as a direct and primary response to the Company’s intentional phone throttling during 2017) was negatively impacting iPhone sales; and (3) the U.S.-China trade war, declining Chinese economy, and strength of the U.S. dollar had negatively impacted demand for iPhones in Greater China.
On January 2, 2019, after the close of trading, Apple disclosed that first quarter fiscal 2019 revenues would be $84 billion – approximately $5 billion below the low-end of the forecasted range that the Company had announced just eight weeks earlier on November 1, 2018, due to falling iPhone sales in China. China is Apple’s third-largest market for iPhones behind only the United States and Europe. The Company also admitted that price cuts to replacement batteries, stemming from the Company’s prior conduct of intentionally reducing the performance of batteries in older iPhones, was negatively impacting iPhone sales growth.
On this news, Apple common stock fell more than $15 per share, or over 9%, to close at $142.19 per share on January 3, 2019.
If you purchased Apple securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options, please visit https://www.bernlieb.com/cases/apple-aapl-class-action-lawsuit-fraud-stock-127/or contact Matthew E. Guarnero toll free at (877) 779-1414 or via email at MGuarnero@bernlieb.com.
Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journal's "Plaintiffs' Hot List" thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for ten consecutive years.
You can obtain a copy of the complaint from the clerk of the court for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
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Contact Information
Matthew E. Guarnero
Bernstein Liebhard LLP
http://www.bernlieb.com
(877) 779-1414
Mguarnero@bernlieb.com