本周一，媒体广泛报道了一份利空报告，导致苹果（Apple）股价在早盘交易中急剧下挫。该报告是摩根大通（J.P. Morgan）分析师戈谷•哈里哈兰向客户发出的。报告称，多家亚洲供应商已收到苹果通知——iPad 2第四季度订单量将下调25%。哈里哈兰称：“这一下调前所未见。”（科技博客Business Insider的标题为：天啊！苹果iPad订单缩水25%。）

    鉴于哈里哈兰是被聘来追踪苹果主要供应商富士康（Foxconn）（富士康是台湾企业鸿海的注册商标）的，他的关注可以理解，因为这一变动对富士康的利润率及其亚洲合作伙伴们的利润都会造成影响。

    哈里哈兰以及那些闻风大肆抛售苹果股票的交易者似乎都遗忘了此前来自南美洲的报道：富士康正和巴西政府合作，在该国开办iPad工厂，并计划将于今年12月投产。

    不过，多名分析师对摩根大通的报告给予反驳后，苹果股价略微有所回升。

    投资银行Piper Jaffray的吉恩•明斯特表示：“苹果有意保持了足够数量的供应商和生产合作伙伴，如此一来，供给方的任何一个数据都不具有决定性。”明斯特还提到苹果正在将代工任务向巴西方面转移。

    咨询公司Bullish Cross的安迪•扎克对此表示赞同：“我们认为摩根大通的报道非常具有误导性。他们试图对苹果的未来发展做出定论，但其证据却完全不能自圆其说。”

    更新：发生了一件很少见的“内斗”事件：据彭博社（Bloomberg）报道，摩根大通的马克•莫斯科维茨正式否决了其亚洲同事的报道。莫斯科维茨称，该报道“引发了资本市场对苹果的担忧。报道关注的焦点是iPad订单量的减少对鸿海会产生何种影响。该警报并非来自美国IT硬件团队的评估。”

    译者：项航

    Apple (AAPL) shares fell sharply in early trading Monday following a widely reported note to clients from J.P. Morgan's Gokul Hariharan to the effect that multiple supply chain vendors in Asia have registered a 25% cut in fourth-quarter iPad 2 orders from Apple -- "the first cut ever we've seen" according to Hariharan. (Business Insider's headline: HOLY CRAP: Apple Just Cut iPad Orders By 25%.)

    Given that Hariharan is paid to cover Foxconn (the trademark of Taiwan-based Hon Hai), Apple's major supplier, he was understandably concerned about what such a cut would do to Foxconn's profit margins and the profits of its Asian partners.

    What Hariharan -- and the traders who dumped Apple shares on the news -- seem to have missed were the reports out of South American that Foxconn, in partnership with the Brazilian government, has built an iPad plant in Brazil that is ready to start churning out product by December.

    The stock recovered somewhat after several analysts stepped forward to pour cold water on the J.P. Morgan report.

    "Apple purposely maintains enough suppliers and manufacturing partners to make any one supply-side data point inconclusive," wrote Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, who mentioned the fact that Apple is transitioning to Brazilian manufacturing.

    "We believe the report out of JPM is extraordinarily misleading," echoed Bullish Cross' Andy Zaky, "given that it attempts draw a conclusion regarding Apple's expectations which are simply not founded in evidence."

    UPDATE: In a rare eruption of internecine conflict, J.P. Morgan's Mark Moskowitz has formally disavowed his Asian colleague's report, according to Bloomberg. That report "has the equity markets worried about Apple," Moskowitz wrote. It "focuses on how Hon Hai could be impacted by potential iPad sell-in order cuts. This alert is not the view of the U.S. IT hardware team."