Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) will be reporting its fourth
quarter results after the closing bell today.
There are too many parameters and last minute figures
to factor in, especially with regard to its iPhone sales and that of its iPad.
Analysts are expecting earnings of $8.82 cents a share
on revenue of $35.8 billion, according to consensus estimates.
The company reported earnings of $7.05 per share on
revenue of $28.3 billion for the same period last year.
Apple’s shares remain up more than 50 percent for the
year to date, but are down 12 percent from their peak above $700 last month.
Just two days before the launch the company also
unveiled a slew of products - an iPad Mini, iMac refreshes, and a regular iPad.
The main driver of the company's business into the
next year will be the iPhone 5 which went on sale on September 21 and got a
record response from customers the first two days of its sales.
The earnings in the September quarter are likely to be
a repeat of what was witnessed last year when a build up to the iPhone 4S led
to a slowdown in the sales of the existing versions then.
A burst in sales in the final week of the quarter with
the iPhone 5 was likely offset by a large slowdown in the two months before.
Analysts, on average, are expecting iPhone shipments of about 26 million for
the September quarter — roughly flat with the June period.
Wireless carriers AT&T Inc.(NYSE:T) and Verizon
Communications Inc.(NYSE:VZ) reported in their own results that they activated
a combined total of about 1.9 million iPhone 5 units in the September quarter.
A similar effect may be seen with the iPad as
customers may have held off buying the tablet PC on expectations of the iPad
Mini.
Shares of AAPL are down 1.13% to $609.86 after hitting
3-month low of $609.65 earlier in the session.
I believe it is likely Apple earnings will be below the estimates and this is already reflected in the current share price. Will the investors focus on the past on look toward the future at what will be a record breaking Q1 quarter. We'll see tomorrow. Either way, I'm not worry. When a company's main issue is not being able to keep up with demand, you know your money is safe.
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