Apple Trims Stock Drop Suit, But Claims Related to China Remain

Apple Inc. shook off claims that it inflated its stock price by making overly optimistic statements about the demand for iPhones, after the Northern District of California found the statements mere puffery.

But the company failed to dispel allegations that it misrepresented Apple’s business outlook in China because the plaintiffs adequately showed the statements by Tim Cook about its profits there were materially false or misleading, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California said Wednesday.

The plaintiffs plausibly allege that Cook represented Apple wasn’t experiencing pressure in China when he said, on Nov. 1, 2018, in response ...