Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL): Analysts Predict Lower-than-usual Figures for Apple

Analysts are always on the go when Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) is on the brink of declaring its quarterly earnings, so much so that they normally increase computations, because most of the time the figures surpass the predictions by a huge margin.

This is why it is surprising that three analysts have lowered their calculations as Apple gets ready to disclose fiscal Q4 results on October 25. Other analysts might follow suit and reduce their estimates before the date.

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William Blair's Anil Doradla states that after the iPhone 5 launch, there have been considerable delays in shipments due to the demand for iPhones growing at an exponential rate and Apple being unable to cope with it because of supply related issues. However, customers who have queued up to buy the new iPhone have not made the transition to other brands and the sales of the iPhone 4 model have gone up because of the prices being slashed. Blair lowered his estimate from 33 million to 26.5 million due to setbacks in shipment.

Gabelli's Hendi Susanto has predicted a revenue of $37.8 billion (34% yoy growth) and EPS of $9.10 per share. Calculations of Mac shipments have been cut off from 5.3 million units to 4.7 million units, with a drop of 10% in desktops and 1% in portables in 2011. Shipment estimates have been reduced from 32.1 million units to 29.9 million units due to supply problems, a late launch, and early ramp up of iPhone 5 production.

Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty says that the two major factors governing the reported C3Q iPhone units are backend loaded in-cell display production ramp and shipments on the way or in the channel. IDC data showed that demand for Mac PC’s are low and sales have dropped due to new product offerings. 25 million iPhones, 4.8 million Macs, 5.7 million iPods, and 15 million iPads will be sold during the quarter. Shipment is likely to be around 5.2 million units.