Live from Some Apple Event in the Past with Tim Cook & Co.
Following Apple's quarterly results on Tuesday, analysts offered their mostly positive responses to the fact that the company sold a June quarterly record 31.2 million iPhones. Here, AppleInsider offers a rundown of their reactions.
Tim Cook live on stage during some random Apple event in the past.
Apple's guidance for the September quarter projects gross margin of between 36 and 37 percent, which was a surprise to analyst Katy Huberty. She, like many others, expects new products to debut in the quarter, and product transitions usually negatively affect margins.
Morgan Stanley
"We believe more favorable component pricing (NAND, HDD, LCD) and improved iPhone mix are tailwinds that help offset currency volatility and product transition costs in the September quarter," she wrote.
As for the stronger-than-expected iPhone results, she noted that Apple's 20 percent year-over-year growth came in spite of a channel inventory reduction. In addition, the U.S., Japan, and the U.K. all grew iPhone sales north of 50 percent.
The weak spot for Apple's June quarter was the iPad, which saw its first-ever sales decline. Huberty expects that demand will return when the company debuts a fifth-generation iPad in the near future.
JP Morgan
Apple's June quarter results were "not too bad," analyst Mark Moskowitz said. He expects the stock price to react favorably due to strong iPhone sales and a gross margin outlook that's better than many investors anticipated.
Issues for the company, according to Moskowitz, are a slowdown in China, and soft iPad sales. But he expects near-term growth from anticipated iPhone launches in September and a new iPad mini in October.
"In such a case, we think any temporary pressure on gross margin related to new products is likely deferred to (the December quarter)," he said. "This dynamic could pressure gross margin, but we think that the offset is higher revenue growth."