“Investors are optimistic that Apple’s earnings report coming after the closing bell Tuesday will beat expectations, but what happens to iPhone demand in the next quarter is the big question,” Josh Lipton reports for CNBC.
“Apple’s stock has enjoyed a very strong run. In the past 12 months, it has surged some 45 percent. And it’s coming in red hot for this earnings report: In just the past five days, the stock is up over 6 percent,” Lipton reports. “Of course, a lot of the enthusiasm has to do with iPhone demand.”
“But what happens in the months ahead, specifically during the first and second quarters?” Lipton reports. “Analysts at RBC think iPhone shipments will slow down hard from 64 million to 50 million units, a 22 percent drop. ‘The deceleration is really a reflection of the fact that you get some seasonal patterns that kick into the March quarter,’ said RBC’s Amit Daryanani. ‘Also, supply starts to get in line with demand. And the initial rush of the iPhone demand is behind you.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, Virginia, after Santa comes, sales tend to settle down a bit.
Lipton reports, “If RBC is right, that deceleration in iPhone shipments would be worse than last year, when it dropped 16 percent from the first quarter to the second quarter.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Or RBC could be wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.
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