Wall Street expects Apple to report best quarter ever, but all eyes will be on March guida...
Recent reports on iPhone X demand and alleged production cuts have caused concern on Wall Street, where investors eagerly await Apple's March quarter guidance from its latest earnings report. AppleInsider gives you a rundown of what to expect.
General market consensus for the just-concluded December quarter calls for Apple to have sold 79 million iPhones in the three-month frame. That would best the 78.3 million iPhones Apple sold in the same period a year ago, representing holiday 2016.
According to UBS, the market expects an iPhone average selling price of $752, with 27 million iPhone X units sold. Apple doesn't break down sales by model, but it is likely to give commentary on how the iPhone X is performing with respect to current and past models.
For the iPad, Wall Street sees sales of 14 million with an average selling price of $441. Consensus also calls for services revenue of $8.65 billion.
In contrast, UBS analyst Steven Milunovich is a little higher, forecasting sales of 80.2 million iPhones (at a $763 ASP), with 32 million of those the iPhone X. He also calls for iPad sales of 14.1 million at a $431 ASP, and services revenue of $8.9 billion.
Looking forward to the March quarter, Wall Street consensus was at 62 million iPhone sales, but those numbers have been slipping in the wake of speculative reports saying sales are slowing more than Apple expected.
Milunovich is more cautious heading into the March quarter, forecasting iPhone sales of 58.4 million. Either number would be well beyond Apple's March 2017 quarter, however, when iPhone sales fell to 50.8 million, itself down from 5.12 million in 2016.
Apple's best-ever March quarter for iPhone sales came in 2015, when the company sold a blockbuster 61 million handsets, riding high on the iPhone 6 "super cycle."
With the March quarter already one-third complete, it's not expected that any major new product launches are coming before the end of the period. Apple's HomePod will begin shipping next Friday, but it is not expected to be a revenue driver in the way new iPhones, iPads or Macs are.
It's possible that Apple ships new MacBook Pros, or even a second-generation iPhone SE, before the end of March. But it's also likely that those upgrades wait until the June quarter.
Apple will give the results of its December quarter, and provide guidance for March, after markets close later today. A conference call with analysts and members of the media will follow at 2 p.m. Pacific, 5 p.m. Eastern, and AppleInsider will have full coverage.
General market consensus for the just-concluded December quarter calls for Apple to have sold 79 million iPhones in the three-month frame. That would best the 78.3 million iPhones Apple sold in the same period a year ago, representing holiday 2016.
According to UBS, the market expects an iPhone average selling price of $752, with 27 million iPhone X units sold. Apple doesn't break down sales by model, but it is likely to give commentary on how the iPhone X is performing with respect to current and past models.
For the iPad, Wall Street sees sales of 14 million with an average selling price of $441. Consensus also calls for services revenue of $8.65 billion.
In contrast, UBS analyst Steven Milunovich is a little higher, forecasting sales of 80.2 million iPhones (at a $763 ASP), with 32 million of those the iPhone X. He also calls for iPad sales of 14.1 million at a $431 ASP, and services revenue of $8.9 billion.
Looking forward to the March quarter, Wall Street consensus was at 62 million iPhone sales, but those numbers have been slipping in the wake of speculative reports saying sales are slowing more than Apple expected.
Milunovich is more cautious heading into the March quarter, forecasting iPhone sales of 58.4 million. Either number would be well beyond Apple's March 2017 quarter, however, when iPhone sales fell to 50.8 million, itself down from 5.12 million in 2016.
Apple's best-ever March quarter for iPhone sales came in 2015, when the company sold a blockbuster 61 million handsets, riding high on the iPhone 6 "super cycle."
With the March quarter already one-third complete, it's not expected that any major new product launches are coming before the end of the period. Apple's HomePod will begin shipping next Friday, but it is not expected to be a revenue driver in the way new iPhones, iPads or Macs are.
It's possible that Apple ships new MacBook Pros, or even a second-generation iPhone SE, before the end of March. But it's also likely that those upgrades wait until the June quarter.
Apple will give the results of its December quarter, and provide guidance for March, after markets close later today. A conference call with analysts and members of the media will follow at 2 p.m. Pacific, 5 p.m. Eastern, and AppleInsider will have full coverage.
Comments
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I don’t think there is any other tech company that is assessed in this “constant hunt for bad news” kind of a way.
I guess Tim and Luca will reveal all soon.
Someone like Warren Buffet will look at the anticipated cash flows over a decade or more in determining value. He's making estimates 40 quarters or more into the future.
The stock price, and therefore the interest from analysts and investors, will be driven by expectations. So yes, we should be thinking about things like potential supply constraints that might affect the launch of the anticipated iPhone X Plus or how the rumored LCD based phones could cannibalize future X sales, or even whether Android will ever improve enough to be a serious alternative to iOS. Besides, where's the fun in discussing facts? Opinions generate much more animated conversations as long as they don't degenerate into personal attacks.
Apple is the most basic stock....it's like we are are a bakery, "How many pies did u sell last month?" oh, 4 less than we though? stock tanks 8%
Amazon, MSFT, GOOG are like trying to untangle a ball of yarn...
Never forget that Apple's fortunes were once very different than they are today and nothing lasts forever. How many companies have been in Apple's position only to find themselves remembering what it was like to be the recipient of scrutiny reserved exclusively for that ticket symbol at the top of the heap.
All Apple can do is to do what they do. Past that, there will always be somebody ready to eat their lunch and will get it done, eventually. Will it matter to the average Apple customer? Not unless it begins to affect quality.
Now, users can opt for older phones, choose from a better iPhone selection and not be 'held to ransom' by the release cycle. Those people struggling with their current phones can upgrade when they choose, safe in the knowledge that they can probably find the phone for their needs, and within their budget, at any time.
Those aiming high will still wait for year end to pick up the latest and most expensive options, or the revised pricing on the previous top priced models but the rest (the ones who will never be in that group or who were but have ceased to see the justification for buying a premium phone) will just buy when they need.
Of course, in theory at least, this will give Apple more presence in developing markets and a more competitive presence at that.
If they wanted to go a step further, they could also move to a two flagship rollout model. The traditional rollout plus another at a different time of the year. That would really intensify competition. Currently, Apple puts all its cards on the table at one presentation and that's all there is for the full year.
I think this model will change at some point as it plays into the hands of competitors. Visually, the 8 series already looks dated for example and they will only have one bezeless model for almost the entire year.
For these results, they didn't provide any warnings so the final numbers shouldn't really include any nasty surprises.
Tim Cook will say he's 'delighted, thrilled, overwhelmed' with iPhone X performance but probably stop short of giving any model specific numbers.
Three or four examples will suffice.
OK Roger, so you won another record breaking grand slam title. Big deal! What are you going to next, CHUMP?
I haven't heard amazing strategy out of Amazon, Facebook or Google - not of the kind you are claiming Apple is lacking (a detailed but visionary 10-year roadmap of what the company is going to do).