Because "expectations" are just wild-ass guesses.
iPad sales are up 150% year over year. How that's disappointing, I'll never know.
iPad sales are up 150% year over year. How that's disappointing, I'll never know.
This like buying an expensive sports car and having it ONLY go 150MPH when similarly priced cars can reach 200MPH. 150MPH is great compared to a stock Honda Civic, but you will be disappointed when your friends best you with their supercars, because you paid so much. Apple stock is a supercar stock, so when it doesn't perform at supercar standards, the market is disappointed.
Your analogy also misses on a number of levels. But to make it crystal clear, I'll correct it. Today's results are like buying an economy car in a price band where similarly priced cars can reach 60 MPH and finding out that yours goes 800 MPH and being disappointed. For a share of AAPL is priced more like a Kia than a Ferrari relative to its growth.
To clarify: the stock is not expensive by any classical valuation metric. The stock is trading at a multiple of < 16, which is lower than companies in much slower-growing businesses. For example: McDonald's (18), Procter & Gamble (20), Coke (20). In fact, the Dow Jones index of utility stocks trades at a higher earnings multiple. And now there's a dividend in case 100% EPS growth isn't enough for an investor. So unless your idea of an expensive high-flying stock is a stodgy utility, AAPL is absolutely not priced for wild growth and profitability.