“The growth of iPod sales is slowing but Apple Computer Inc. may surprise investors with strength from its original business — computers — when it posts quarterly results on Wednesday,” Duncan Martell reports for Reuters.
Martell reports, “With more than 75 percent of the U.S. market for digital music players, there’s limited room for growth in iPod market share. But there is plenty of room to boost Apple’s original business, selling the Macintosh computers known for their industrial design and included package of media software. ‘We see continued strength in the Mac business, which was very strong last quarter,’ said American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu.”
“Overall, Wall Street analysts expect Apple to earn 51 cents per share, on average, within a range of 49 cents to 55 cents, on revenue of $4.66 billion, according to Reuters Estimates,” Martell reports.
“UBS analyst Ben Reitzes expects Apple to ship 8.12 million iPods in its fiscal fourth quarter, which would be an increase of 26 percent from a year ago, he wrote in an October 12 report,” Martell reports. “He expects Apple to have shipped 1.48 million Macs, representing 20 percent growth from a year ago and 11 percent higher than the previous quarter. ‘Our checks continue to show solid demand for Macs, particularly the new MacBooks,’ Reitzes wrote.”
“Apple said in July, when it last reported results, that it had doubled its share of the U.S. retail notebook market to 12 percent as measured by units shipped from January to June” Martell reports. “It said then it expected fourth-quarter net earnings per share of about 46 cents to 48 cents, including an estimated three cents per share expense from non-cash stock-based compensation. It also said it expected revenue of $4.5 billion to $4.6 billion.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple will announce Q4 earnings on October 18th after market close.
Apple’s 2006 earnings and unit sales information through Q3:
• Q1 (ended 12/31/05): revenue of $5.75 billion, net quarterly profit of $565 million, 1.254 million Macs, 14.043 million iPods
• Q2 (ended 04/01/06): revenue of $4.36 billion, net quarterly profit of $410 million, 1.112 million Macs, 08.526 million iPods
• Q3 (ended 07/01/06): revenue of $4.37 billion, net quarterly profit of $472 million, 1.327 million Macs, 08.111 million iPods
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