By the Numbers

Apple: Sell the news?

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks about the new iPhone products during the announcement.
Getty Images

When it comes to Apple products announcements, the strategy of "buy the rumor, sell the news" has worked more often than not.

Of the last 10 times Apple has held a special event to unveil a new product, its shares finished the day lower after six of those events, for an average decline of 1.3 percent. The stock fell 2.3 percent Tuesday and was trading lower in premarket trade on Wednesday. (Click here to track its share price.)

The unveil also preceded a trio of downgrades of the company's stock as some investors were left underwhelmed by the product launch.

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But the story gets more interesting when looking beyond just the trading action on the day of the announcement.

A week after each product event, shares were up an average of 2.3 percent, and they're positive 60 percent of the time. A month later, the stock is up just half the time, with an average gain of 3.3 percent.

(The biggest one-month post-product announcement gains came after the March 7, 2012 announcements of a new iPad as well as Apple TV, and the Jan. 19, 2012 announcement of iBook textbooks for iPads).

It's also worth noting that in addition to Apple unveiling the new iPhone 5S and more inexpensive 5C version, the company received a license that will allow the iPhone to run on China Mobile's network, China's biggest wireless carrier when measure by subscribers.

Depending on how many of China Mobile's 700 million customers sign up for iPhones, that could also be a catalyst for short, medium and longer term stock moves.

Apple stock during product events

Products<br> Released Date Stock % Chg. 1-Wk<br> Later 1-Mos<br> Later
iOS 7
new Mac Pro
new MacBook Air
6/10/2013$438.89 -0.66%-1.57%-4.14%
iPad mini
new iPad
new iMac
10/23/2012$613.36 -3.26%-1.53%-8.42%
iPhone 5
new iPod touch
9/12/2012$669.79 1.39%4.82%-5.98%
Kenote Address6/11/2012$571.17 -1.58%2.56%5.82%
The new iPad
new Apple TV
3/7/2012$530.69 0.08%11.10%19.41%
iBook textbooks for iPad1/19/2012$427.75 -0.32%3.95%17.39%
iPhone 4S
iOS 5
iCloud
10/4/2011$372.50 -0.56%7.46%8.21%
OS X Lion
iOS 5
iCloud
6/6/2011$338.04 -1.57%-3.38%4.06%
iPad 23/2/2011$352.12 0.80%0.10%-2.15%
MacBook Air
iLife '11
10/20/2010$310.53 0.34%-0.87%-1.22%
Average -0.53%2.26%3.30%

Source: Source: CNBC Analytics *Steve Jobs passed away on 10/5/2011


—BY CNBC's Dominic Chu and Giovanny Moreano