Apple Computer Inc shares plummeted $7.25 to $28.50 after the company reported extremely weak operating results for its fiscal third quarter (page five) and analysts said the company needed deeper cost cuts and an even broader restructuring if it intends to rebound from the unexpectedly poor performance: the figures were Horrible in a word, commented analyst Bruce Lupatkin at Hambrecht & Quist; Disastrous, said analyst David Wu at S G Warburg; I think the business model they presented won’t work, Prudential Securities analyst Marianne Wolk told Reuter, adding that she expects Apple will have to take further restructuring charges of $100m or so a quarter for some time; the figures show that demand growth is ebbing for Macintosh products, inventories are swelling while cash reserves are dwindling.
