• by Fern Siegel , October 20, 2011

Over the past decade, Apple has routinely made analysts look foolish by destroying their estimates each and every quarter, says TechCruch. Apple’s stock dropped 23.62 points Wednesday — over 5.5%. It went from an all-time closing high of $422 a share, to under $400 a share. Why? Again, the earnings announced yesterday. For the first time in something like nine years, Apple failed to beat Wall Street’s expectations.

But here’s the thing: those expectations were ridiculous and flawed and once again show that analysts have no idea what they’re talking about when it comes to Apple, the site notes. They were expecting something between 20 and 22 million iPhones sold, and Apple actually sold 17.07 million. Selling the larger estimate would have been a new all-time record for the company.