Apple Stock Eyes Lowest Close In a Year During Market Sell-Off

AAPL and BB are pacing for their lowest closes in over a year

Stocks are struggling the week before Christmas. Three names taking part in the widespread weakness are iPhone maker Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), tech name BlackBerry Ltd (NYSE:BB), and e-commerce services provider Shopify Inc (NYSE:SHOP). Let's take a look at the damage shares of AAPL, BB, and SHOP have experienced today.

Apple Stock Flirts With Worst Close In A Year

AAPL stock was last seen down 2.1% at $153.57, and earlier came within 2 points of itsFebruary low of 150.24. Still, this would mark Apple's lowest closing price in over a year, with the equity following up November's 18.4% decline with a 14.1% deficit so far in December.

In the analyst community, 28 brokerage firms are covering the Dow component, and half of them still call Apple a "buy" or "strong buy." Moreover, the average 12-month price target stands up at $221.02. The door would seem to be open for some downwardly revised outlooks from analysts, and just today Independent Research slashed its AAPL price target to $205 from $260.

New Lows For BlackBerry

BB stock is also set for its lowest close for the past year, down 7.1% at $7.01. This just extends the shares' longer-term downtrend, bringing their year-to-date deficit to about 37%, and comes just a day after the security tried to rally after a third-quarter earnings beat. Canaccord Genuity was one of at least brokerage firm to lower its price target on BlackBerry, dropping it to $9 from $11.

Meanwhile, short interest has actually been declining on the security. Looking at the last two reporting periods, short interest fell by 19.3%, though 6.7 days' worth of buying power is still controlled by these bears, going by average daily volumes.

Upgrade Does Nothing for SHOP Stock

SHOP is down 3.6% at $123.18, set for its second lowest close since April. The stock is getting no help from an upgrade to "buy" from "neutral" at D.A. Davidson. Shopify was trading near $164 just last week, and options traders are likely hoping more downside is ahead. For example, the 10-day put/call volume ratio at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) stands at 1.16, ranking in the 81st annual percentile. Said in simpler terms, put buying has been unusually popular during the past two weeks, hinting at bearish expectations.