Apple (AAPL) shares have tumbled 18% from their record high of $705 -- causing many to wonder whether the company has lost its mojo.
Despite the stock plunge, the company continues to beat expectations and its own sales records. Apple sold a record 3 million iPads from last Friday to Sunday when its latest iPad and iPad mini went on sale. That is double the number of tablets Apple sold in March when the third generation iPad went on sale.
Related: iPad Mini: Will It Cannibalize Apple's Regular iPad Sales?
As a result of the positive news, Apple stock was up 8% to $585 in mid-morning trading Monday.
In the accompanying video, Fusion Analytics' long-time Apple fan Josh Brown joins The Daily Ticker's Aaron Task to discuss why he is still bullish on the company.
"We are long Apple," he says. "We still like it," adding that it is the one stock that Fusion believes should be a core holding for its clients.
While Brown has historically been "hesitant" to sell shares of the tech giant, he has been trimming positions due to technicals, not management shakeups or fundamentals.
"We understand the fundamental case," he says. "[But] technically speaking the stock is in a time out."
That said, selling shares of the Apple juggernaut have not been easy for Brown. "Eight years of this thing, and there is still a little bit of queasiness hitting the sell button even if you are only parring a portfolio down," he says.
Even as Apple faces increasing pressure from competitors like Google (GOOG), Samsung, Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon (AMZN), Brown still likes the Apple name and thinks the company "may very well get its mojo back heading into Christmas."
Related: Ignore Apple's Quarter, Analyst Says--The Stock's Still A 'Buy'
"We still think that long term it does better than most of its competitors and most technology stocks," he notes. "Take all of the negatives, and there are several... and you still have a company that is trading at 9x earnings."
Yet, in the face of all his optimism, Brown questions whether Apple can "still be the Michael Jordan of the Nasdaq."
"I don't know if we can still count on Apple for 30 or 40 points months during a rally," he says. "It just might not trade that way anymore."
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