“A key question for Apple Inc.’s investors heading into what is likely to be a challenging earnings report on Tuesday afternoon is whether the stock — down nearly 45% since last fall — has been punished enough,” Dan Gallagher reports for MarketWatch.
“Apple is widely expected to report a sharp drop-off in iPhone sales compared to the December quarter, along with lower profit margins due to a number of factors, including more sales of the iPad mini that could be cannibalizing sales of its more profitable, larger tablets,” Gallagher reports. “But much will depend on expectations heading into the report, as well as what the company actually says on its call discussing the fiscal-second-quarter results and outlook for the June period. That call is due to start Tuesday at 5 p.m. Eastern time.”
MacDailyNews Note: MacDailyNews will cover Apple’s conferenece call with live notes as usual starting around 4:50pm EDT on Tuesday, April 23rd.
Gallagher reports, “Expectations are being reset — though possibly not by enough… Since the end of February, analysts’ consensus earnings target has come down another 2% for the second fiscal quarter, according to data from Thomson Reuters. They now expect Apple to report earnings of $10.01 per share on revenues of $42.4 billion for the March quarter, according to consensus estimates from FactSet. The company earned $12.30 per share on revenue of $39.2 billion in the same period last year.”
“There are other potential variables in Tuesday’s report. A surprising beat for the quarter, a forecast that is higher than Wall Street’s consensus or a changed ‘capital-allocation strategy’ that includes a raised dividend are all possibilities that could turn sentiment on the stock,” Gallagher reports. “The highly secretive company is very unlikely to give any information on up-coming products launches, however.”
Read more in the full article here.