A tough year marred by macroeconomic uncertainties and geopolitical tensions is drawing to a close. Most financial assets, including stocks, bonds and cryptos, have come off notably from the levels at which they started 2022.
Here’s a look at what drove the performance of Apple, Inc. AAPL, the tech bellwether; Dogecoin DOGE/USD, a widely followed crypto; and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY, the broader market gauge, and the returns each would generate if the tide turns.
Apple Not Recession-Proof: As the year started, analysts touted Apple as one company that can weather any potential downturn. They had pinned their hopes on Apple’s sticky ecosystem and the thinking that the company’s customers could be relatively insensitive to the vagaries of the economy.
Apple’s troubles started with production issues in China. As COVID-19 forced the closure of the main iPhone factory of supplier Hon Hai Precision Manufacturing Company Limited HNHPF, Cupertino came out with a warning that production of its high-end iPhone Pro will be impacted.
Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring recently lowered his December quarter iPhone unit shipment estimate as well as his company-wide revenue and earnings per share estimates.
More worrisome: the analyst does not see any of the demand deferring to the March quarter. So, it could be demand lost rather than demand deferred.
Apple trades in a 52-week range of $129.04-$182.94.
See also: How to Buy Apple (AAPL) Stock
Doge Whimpers: Doge rose to an all-time high of $0.737567 in May 2021, with the chief upside catalyst being Tesla CEO Elon Musk talking up the meme currency.
His mentions were enough to spark a rally in the crypto. Incidentally, Doge peaked well before the overall crypto market did in November 2021.
Come 2022, all the cryptos, including the Doge, headed southward amid increasing risk aversion. Macro challenges and industry-specific triggers such as issues with major cryptos and cryptocurrency exchanges dragged the onetime high-fliers.
Doge trades in a 52-week range of $0.049720-$0.203232 and has lost about 56% year-to-date.
SPY's Relative Outperformance: The SPY, an exchange-traded fund that tracks the performance of the S&P 500 Index, has fared better than most other asset classes.
The ETF’s year-to-date move is a negative 18.07% compared to a 25.3% downward move by Apple and the 32.3% pullback by the Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ, a tech-heavy ETF that tracks the performance of the Nasdaq-100 Index.
The reason for the outperformance is obvious. The index comprises large-cap stocks belonging to diverse sectors, while the NDX and the QQQ are made up of large-cap, non-financial tech companies. The sell-off this year has been led by the tech sector.
The SPY traded in a 52-week range of $348.11-$479.98.
How Returns Compare:
- A $1,000 invested at Apple’s current stock price of $132.23 will fetch 7.6 shares. If the stock retests the 52-week high of $182.94 (Jan. 4 intraday high), the same shares would be worth $1,383.5, a return of 38.35%.
- A $1,000 invested in Doge at its current price of $0.075673 will fetch 13,214.8 coins. If the 52-week of $0.20232 (Jan. 14 intraday high) is reclaimed, the holding’s value would increase to $2,673.6, a return of 167.4%.
- A $1,000 invested in SPY at current levels will fetch 2.61 units and if the ETF climbs back to its 52-week high of $479.98 (Jan. 4 intraday high), the value of the units would increase to $1,252.8. This would translate to a return of 25.3%.
- Read next: Apple Down 25%, Meta 65%, Amazon 49% As Tech Stocks Hit Rough Patch In 2022: 4 Factors That Could Work In Sector's Favor In 2023
- Photo via Shutterstock.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Comments
Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.