“For all the hoopla surrounding the recent launch of the iPhone, Apple’s results will rely more heavily on sales of its two main product lines, Macintosh computers and iPod digital media players,” Rex Crum reports for MarketWatch.
Crum reports, “Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial estimate that Apple earned 72 cents a share on $5.29 billion in revenue in its fiscal third quarter, up from 54 cents a share and $4.37 billion in sales during the same period a year ago.”
“For the year to date, Apple’s shares have been on a tear, and the stock tacked on $1.80 to reach $136.73 in midday trading,” Crum reports.
“Shaw Wu, an analyst with American Technology Research, said in a research note that he expects ‘continued Mac strength’ that will be driven by recently updated MacBook and MacBook Pro notebook computers. Wu estimates Apple will post total Mac sales of 1.64 million units, up 24% from a year ago,” Crum reports. “Regarding the iPod, Wu expects shipments to rise 20% from a year ago, to 9.7 million units, ‘with little signs of cannibalization from [the] iPhone.'”
“At Piper Jaffray, analyst Gene Munster expects iPod sales of close to 10 million units, and Mac sales slightly above the consensus estimate of 1.6 million units,” Crum reports.
Full article here.