Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) shareholders had a trading session to forget on Tuesday. The tech powerhouse shed nearly 3% of its value on the day. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index dipped a slightly less precipitous 2%. An analyst's somewhat gloomy update was one big reason why.

Before the session opened, AllianceBernstein prognosticator Toni Sacconaghi published a new Apple research note. In it, he highlighted the fact that the growth rate of its services revenue has declined for six quarters in a row. On top of that, its gross margins fell in its most recently reported quarter.

Sacconaghi explained this by writing that Apple's take from advertising and app store sales has not been strong. This matters, because these sources provide roughly 60% of the tech giant's total services revenue. He pointed out that in Q3 2021, its advertising growth was over 60%. Now, ad revenues are shrinking. And app store revenue has risen by only 4% on average over the last four quarters.

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Source Fool.com