ONLY UNKNOWN IN APPLE EARNINGS: HOW BIG?
I-Phone powers Q2 report; Watch is the X-factor
SAN FRANCISCO Apple made history — not to mention an obscene amount of money — in its last quarterly result.
Let us count the ways: A record 74.5 million iPhones sold. The largest quarterly profit — a staggering $18 billion — in corporate history. A mountain of revenue generated ($74.6 billion) on stel- lar earnings of $3.06 a share.
So, can it possibly top such an historic quarter, when it reports its fiscal second-quarter results later today?
As sequels go, this one is as foreboding as improving on Jaws and Blade Runner.
No one reasonably expects the same iPhone results. Apple was the beneficiary of white-hot sales of a long-awaited bigger-screen smartphone during the holiday season, its best quarter of the year. (Stifel analyst Aaron Rakers expects quarterly iPhone sales of 59.6 million, compared with a previously predicted 53.6 million, because of strong demand in China.)
On the revenue side, analysts expect Apple to ring up $55.9 billion, up 22% from the same quarter a year earlier, according to research firm FactSet.
Analysts are calling for the company to report 29.5% higher adjusted earnings of $2.15 a share. Investors are gobbling up shares in anticipation of the results, to be announced after markets close. Apple’s stock closed at $130.28 on Friday, up 18% for the year and 61% in the last 12 months.
The X-factor this quarter, and a harbinger of the next several quarters, is how receptive the American public is to Apple Watch, which went on sale earlier this month.
Colin Gillis, research director at BGC Financial, expects a pop. He predicts Apple will sell 30 million Apple Watches in the first four quarters they are available.