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When Apple’s share price gets slammed 10 per cent, its suppliers should all suffer too, shouldn’t they?

Well, not quite. On Thursday, Apple’s disappointing results led to some falls in its suppliers’ share prices. But none was hit as hard as Apple, and some even rose.

One of Apple’s biggest suppliers is Hon Hai, parent company of Foxconn, the mega-assembler. The company was expected to build over 40m iPhones in the fourth quarter alone. Its price dropped 2.94 per cent on Thursday – not pretty, but better than Apple.

Hong Kong-listed AAC makes speaker components for Apple, its biggest customer. Shares were down 6 per cent, reflecting its exposure.

Zhen Ding, a Taiwan-based producer of printed circuit boards, had a much gentler fall of 1.44 per cent.

LG Display, which provides screens for iPads and and iPhones, had its own results to worry about on Thursday, as well as those of Apple. The company’s net income was 319bn won ($298m) for the three months ending in December, after making a 6bn won loss in Q4 2011. However, this was below analyst estimates of around 360bn won, according to Bloomberg. Revenues for Q4 2012 were up to $8.7tn ($8.1bn) from 6.6tn in the corresponding quarter of 2011.

The results came after the close in trading, but given the worries around Apple, investors have already sent the shares down 1.2 per cent.

However, Largan, a lensmaker that supplies part of the camera component of the iPhone, was up 2 per cent in Taiwan. And TPK of Taiwan was up 1.23 per cent. It makes touch panels and screens for phones and other devices. Pegatron, another Taiwanese component supplier, was up 1.79 per cent.

Of course, one of Apple’s biggest suppliers is Samsung Electronics – but its performance is driven by other considerations, not least its own phones and products which directly compete with Apple. Its shares were fairly flat on Thursday, falling 0.47 per cent. The company will confirm its full year earnings on Friday, having given guidance back on January 8 that operating profit will hit a record for the fifth successive quarter, rising 88 per cent from a year earlier to about Won8.8tn ($8.27bn).

So why are Apple’s suppliers not catching its cold?

According to Daniel Chang of Macquarie Research, it’s mainly because Apple’s woes were already priced in. “Apple’s fall is partly due to the more realisitic numbers and guidance from the company. The supply chain in Asia saw the cuts coming earlier and is already anticipating new models in the second quarter. The worst case is over,” Chang said.

Related reading:
Apple stock sheds 10% on growth worries, FT
Apple in China: still on a tear, beyondbrics
iPhone suppliers reflect little glory, beyondbrics
Tough week for Taiwan tech, beyondbrics