It’s not often that you can blame Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) for the S&P 500’s (INDEX: ^GSPC) woes -- Apple is up about 70% year-to-date -- but today’s drop of 3.26 points (0.22%) to 1456.89 is primarily Apple’s fault. The tech bellwether reported today that it completely sold out of its inventory of 5 million iPhone 5s over the weekend. However, Wall Street was looking for much more -- closer to 8 million. It should be noted that these figures don’t include pre-ordered phones, but it raises concerns about the ability of Apple’s suppliers to boost capacity to meet demand.
Besides Apple, let’s have a look at a few other large movers within the S&P 500.
Paper manufacturers, like International Paper (NYSE: IP), had a fantastic session, bucking the S&P 500’s downdraft, following multiple price target upgrades within the sector from Credit Suisse. The brokerage firm noted that International Paper and many of its peers were able to pass along $50/ton price increases in September, which should help curtail higher input costs. I’m not sold on the paper sector just yet, but this does address a major concern that I had regarding rising input costs.
Apple’s pain also turned into Google’s (Nasdaq: GOOG) gain. Keep in mind that, while the Apple iPhone is the best-selling single device in the world, Google’s Android operating system is still the most prominent operating system by a mile! Within the U.S., Google’s OS market share dominates Apple, 52.2% to 33.4% according to comScore. Today’s "disappointment" from Apple that it "only" sold 5 million iPhones since Sept. 21 may bode well that Google’s OS won’t be losing market share to Apple’s iOS6 anytime soon.
Virtualization software company Citrix Systems (Nasdaq: CTXS) is having one of its rougher days within the S&P 500, down more than 5%, following a downgrade from Morgan Stanley to "equal-weight" from "overweight." Morgan Stanley cites weakness in the PC market, which could translate into a slowdown in Citrix’s organic license and billing growth. On the other hand, my Foolish colleague Keith Speights feels Citrix is a well-oiled machine that could be well on its way to becoming a virtualization powerhouse.
The greatest thing since sliced bread?
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