Not So Big Apple

Even Apple Computer (AAPL Quote), it seems, can't defy Newton's laws forever.

Shares of the company traded off as much as 7% Monday and are off some 22% since hitting an all-time high last month. The selloff follows a three-year run that has sent Apple shares up more than 900%.

Analysts and traders were at a loss to explain the immediate cause for the stock's Monday decline. But more broadly, a number of recent developments have made investors nervous, leading them to cash in on the stock in recent sessions, analysts said.

"Everyone's question now is how much more upside there is in Apple's products," says Tim Biggam, chief options strategist with Man Securities. "There's some pretty hard profit-taking" going on, added Biggamn. "A lot of longs have gotten nervous."

In recent trading, that nervousness was evident: Apple shares were off $4.55, or 6.3%, to $67.30. Earlier in the session, the stock traded off as much as $5.11 to $66.74.

And that apprehension didn't just crop up Monday. Since hitting an all-time high on Jan. 12, amid the hoopla following the company's earnings preview at its Macworld conference, the stock has dropped nearly $19.

Since then, investors have had to deal with a growing list of concerns. While sales of the company's iPod digital music players in the holiday quarter topped nearly everyone's expectations, the company predicted a sharp decline in sales this quarter.

Sales of Apple's Macintosh computer came in lower than expected in the holiday period, and the company cautioned investors that because of its transition to computers based on Intel's (INTC Quote) processors, computer sales could continue to be soft in the current, or second, quarter.

Some analysts and investors have worried about the impact on Apple of the proposed sale of Pixar (PIXR Quote) to Disney (DIS Quote). Apple CEO Steve Jobs is also the CEO of Pixar and would become a board member of Disney if the deal goes through.