Apple tumbles after missing forecast

San Francisco: Apple Inc. fell in German trading after the company's profit forecast and sales of the iPad tablet computer missed analysts' estimates.

Apple dropped 3.9 per cent to the equivalent of $301.97 in Frankfurt. The company predicted profit of $4.80 a share for the current quarter, missing the $5.03 average of 36 analyst estimates.

The forecast, coupled with a drop in new contracts reported by International Business Machines Corp., pushed down technology stocks in Asia and Europe. While Apple's profit climbed to a record, Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs said the company will save its cash for deals as it repels threats from Google and Research In Motion.

Closing in

"Everyone is closing in and it's a huge question of how they are going to respond," said Michael Obuchowski, chief investment officer of First Empire Asset Management, which holds Apple shares. "I'm really worried about Apple; I'm not convinced that I'm going to hold Apple two years from now."

Earnings helped push up the company's cash and investments to above $50 billion (Dh183.9 million), giving Apple the technology industry's biggest warchest for acquisitions, said Brian Marshall, an analyst at Gleacher & Co. Apple may eventually make a large acquisition, possibly for a company such as Akamai Technologies, which produces technology for distributing media content on the Web, he said.