Verizon iPhone activations suggest better-than-expected Sept. quarter for Apple

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Activation figures from Verizon show that sales of the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 were relatively strong prior to the launch of the iPhone 5, suggesting Apple's September quarter could be stronger than expected.

Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray noted that the 3.1 million iPhones activated by Verizon in the September quarter was a number up 15 percent from the prior June quarter. For Apple's own September quarter, Munster has forecast that total iPhone sales will be down 4 percent quarter over quarter.

Of the 3.1 million iPhones activated by Verizon in the quarter, 650,000 were of the newly released iPhone 5, which debuted at the end of the three-month period. That means the remaining 2.5 million iPhones activated by Verizon were of the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4.

"Verizon's iPhone number suggests that the slowdown of older iPhones may not have been as drastic as previously suspected," Munster wrote in a note to investors. "Based on Verizon's report, it appears that non-iPhone 5 sales were down 9% (quarter over quarter), while we are currently modeling Apple to see a 35% (quarter over quarter) decline due to the impact of customers waiting for the iPhone 5."

Munster has predicted that Apple will report sales of 25 million iPhones in the September quarter, a number he is "incrementally more comfortable" with following Verizon's earnings report.

iPhone 5


Maynard Um of Wells Fargo Securities has forecast a similar 25.5 million iPhone sales for the September quarter. He said Verizon's numbers put the carriers on track to account for about 12 percent of his total iPhone units.

"Given a historical range of 9.1%-11.6% in the prior 3 quarters, we believe Verizon's unit activation number supports our forecast and, in fact, suggests some potential upside," Um wrote. "Verizon has also noted that the lower pricing of the iPhone 4 and 4S helped to attract customers that were not on Verizon's network before and that there were some customers that paid full price for smartphones to keep their unlimited plan, though the majority of smartphones were subsidized."

Verizon's chief rival, AT&T, will report its own quarterly iPhone sales in its earnings call next Wednesday. Total iPhone sales for the September quarter, including iPhone 5 sales made in the last week of the quarter, will be revealed by Apple when the company announces its earnings the following day, Oct. 25.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12


    Ugh… Just once can we have an analyst say "worse than expected" when he actually means better than? Now when Apple doesn't meet the outlandish requirements of whoever else…

  • Reply 2 of 12


    makes sense, so the stock goes down. lol

  • Reply 3 of 12
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member


    headline should read "...better than the first wild guess..."

  • Reply 4 of 12
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member
    Doesn't matter Google stock just dived 20% because they jumped the gun with their lower than expected earnings report ... Probably gonna affect Apple too ...

    http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2012/10/18/business/18reuters-google-results.html?hp&_r=0
  • Reply 5 of 12
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,213member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Mac_128 View Post



    Doesn't matter Google stock just dived 20% because they jumped the gun with their lower than expected earnings report ... Probably gonna affect Apple too ...

    http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2012/10/18/business/18reuters-google-results.html?hp&_r=0


    That's off 10% and not 20%, down close to $70.

  • Reply 6 of 12
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member
    gatorguy wrote: »
    That's off 10% and not 20%, down close to $70.
    Right ... Google investors are still down $19 billion dollars. Can't believe AI hasn't reported this ... Advertisers are essentially rejecting Googles as model ...
  • Reply 7 of 12
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,213member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Mac_128 View Post





    Right ... Google investors are still down $19 billion dollars. Can't believe AI hasn't reported this ... Advertisers are essentially rejecting Googles as model ...


    Revenue was up so I think you might be reading too much into it. It's the net income that apparently took a hit, so I would assume investors will be waiting on Mr. Page's explanation for it. But in any event it's not the first time that Google has missed projections and unlikely to be the last either. I wouldn't be surprised to see another drop tomorrow. As for AI reporting on it, ya gotta wait for Mr. Dilger to finish up the trashing. It's such an opportunity I'm sure he's taking his time to get it right.image

  • Reply 8 of 12
    quinneyquinney Posts: 2,528member
    gatorguy wrote: »
    mac_128 wrote: »
    Right ... Google investors are still down $19 billion dollars. Can't believe AI hasn't reported this ... Advertisers are essentially rejecting Googles as model ...
    Revenue was up so I think you might be reading too much into it. It's the net income that apparently took a hit, so I would assume investors will be waiting on Mr. Page's explanation for it. But in any event it's not the first time that Google has missed projections and unlikely to be the last either. I wouldn't be surprised to see another drop tomorrow. As for AI reporting on it, ya gotta wait for Mr. Dilger to finish up the trashing. It's such an opportunity I'm sure he's taking his time to get it right.:D

    It appears that this quarter is the first time Google consolidated losses from Motorola into their earnings.
  • Reply 9 of 12
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,213member


    As an example of how the stock market moves make little sense for many investors (me included), Apple is down much more than Google this morning. image

  • Reply 11 of 12


    Doesn't matter Google stock just dived 20% because they jumped the gun with their lower than expected earnings report ... Probably gonna affect Apple too ...



    http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2012/10/18/business/18reuters-google-results.html?hp&_r=0


     






    Why do you read this rag sheet?


    Unless it suits their agenda, the NYT never publishes what's really happening in the world.


    For example, the whole Benghazi debacle in never on the cover, only on page 7 or further back.


    If you really love America, we need to speak up when publications like the NYT fails to report the news, no matter if it hurts Obama or helps him.

  • Reply 12 of 12


    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post

    As an example of how the stock market moves make little sense for many investors (me included), Apple is down much more than Google this morning. image


     


    With the entire tech industry plummeting today, there has to be something going on in the market as a whole.

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