“‘Rising [AAPL] street estimates particularly for the iPhone,’ wrote Hudson Square’s Daniel Ernst two weeks ago, ‘sets a high bar for a beat,'” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune.
But, look at “the percentage difference between the estimates we’ve gathered from more than 50 analysts — professional and independent — in seven categories: revenues, earnings, gross margin and unit sales of iPhones, iPods, iPads and Macs,” P.E.D. reports. “That 18% gap in the EPS estimates is almost as wide as last quarter’s, and that was the widest we’d ever seen.”
P.E.D. reports, “The 18% gap between the Street’s estimates and the independents’ suggests that” Apple can still deliver an earnings surprise.
Read more in the full article, including a detailed spreadsheet of the individual analysts’ estimates for Apple, here.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple is set to report earnings after the closing bell, right round 4:40pm Eastern. As usual, MacDailyNews will have the numbers as soon as they are available and we’ll cover the conference call with live notes beginning at 5pm Eastern.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Arline M.” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Analyst: Street’s expectations for Apple getting carried away – January 10, 2012
Hudson Square ups Apple estimates ahead of Apple’s January 24th earnings call – January 9, 2012
Needham ups Apple estimates on ‘iPhone blow out’ – January 9, 2012
Goldman Sachs hikes Apple estimates, expects monster quarter – January 9, 2012
Apple to webcast Q112 earnings release conference call on January 24 – January 4, 2012