Apple Down 25%, Meta 65%, Amazon 49% As Tech Stocks Hit Rough Patch In 2022

Apple's stock tumbled in 2022, suffering from steep declines in the tech industry. Tech stocks just had their annus horribilis. The sell-off in the space was so indiscriminate that most shed billions or millions from their market capitalizations. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index has lost almost twice as much as the broader S&P 500 Index, underlining the skewed nature of the market sell-off toward the tech space.

Falling Off The Cliff: The economy did have a part in the tech meltdown, but it alonecannot be squarely blamed. Tech stocks were on an extended run between 2016 and 2021, pushing valuations of many equities to unsustainable levels, Christopher Baggini, global head of equity strategy of JPMorgan Asset & Wealth Management, said in a note. See Also: Best Technology Stocks Right Now These valuations, according to the analyst, could not be sustained in a higher interest rate environment. The situation got worse with the “complicated dynamics of slowing economic growth, uneven demand, inventory management and gradually improving supply chains,” he said.

For taking stock of the ravages, we don't have to look past the big techs, which now look like a pale shadow of their old selves.

The FAANG stocks, save Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), are down by much more than the Nasdaq Composite as well as the Nasdaq 100 Index. Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) has the worst loss for the year so far in this category, followed by Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) and Amazon Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). Apple also has had its fair share of problems, especially with the concentration of its production base in China hurting output and shipments.

It was against this backdrop that these companies began shifting their focus on operational discipline in a bid to preserve margins.