Apple Computer said Thursday its earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter will fall substantially below expectations because of slower-than-expected sales in September.
The company’s shares plunged in after-hours trading on the Nasdaq stock market, causing more nail-biting in the nervous tech sector.
For the quarter ending Sept. 30, the company said it expects to report revenues between $1.85 billion and $1.9 billion and earnings between 30 cents and 33 cents per share, excluding investment gains.
Before the warning, Wall Street analysts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial had projected the computer-maker’s earnings would be 45 cents per share.
Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said, “We’ve clearly hit a speed bump.”
The company attributed the earnings shortfall to an overall business slowdown, lower educational sales and lower sales of the new Power Mac G4 Cube.
