Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Earnings: What To Expect? Here We Go

It has been a busy week for Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL). Releasing the new iPad and a refreshing a few more product lines and they are not yet done. The company is reporting its quarterly earnings on Thursday and analysts will be closely monitoring the sales figures for the iPad and iPhone.

Analysts are anticipating a solid, not fabulous, quarter for the company. The consensus on Apple earnings is that the company will record around $36.6 billion revenue and at least 25 million in iPhone sales.

As far as iPad sales are concerned, a number of analysts have reduced their estimates after Tim Cook, Apple’s Chief Executive gave a small preview of earnings call on Thursday at announcement of the iPad mini on Tuesday.

Cook said that Apple has sold off 100 million iPads two weeks back pointing out that sales may be lesser than analysts had initially expected.

In a note forwarded to investors after the event for iPad, Shaw Wu, an analyst at Sterne Agee reduced his estimate for iPad shipments to 15.8 million units to 16.5 million units. Before the event, other estimates for the iPad have been higher, in some cases, it has been as high as 18 million.

Wu pointed out that the lower sales were also due to the lower production while the company has used resources to ramping production for the iPad mini. Customer expectation for the smaller iPad may also have affected iPad sales, as rumored before the official Tuesday launch.

Apple watchdogs will also be keeping a watch on if Apple would expose the number of iPhone 5 units it has sold till date.

It will be exciting to see if Apple can join Facebook as the only major tech company to exceed expectations for the quarter.

The company’s share passed the $700 mark last month but has plunged since then.  Shares of AAPL are now down 1%.