What to Expect From Apple Earnings

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 13, 2:34PM EST · Published Jan 26, 11:35AM EST

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What to Expect From Apple Earnings — © courtesy of Apple Inc.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is scheduled to report its fiscal first-quarter financial results after the markets close on Tuesday. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters call for $3.23 in earnings per share (EPS) on revenue of $76.59 billion. In the same period of the previous year, Apple posted EPS of $3.06 and $74.60 billion in revenue.

This remains the world’s biggest and boldest technology company. Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV. Apple’s four software platforms — iOS, OS X, watchOS and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services, including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay and iCloud.

The company recently announced that customers around the world made the 2015 holiday season the biggest ever for the Apple App Store, setting new records during the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s. In the two weeks ending January 3, customers spent over $1.1 billion on apps and in-app purchases, setting back-to-back weekly records for traffic and purchases. January 1, 2016, marked the biggest day in App Store history, with customers spending over $144 million. It broke the previous single-day record set just a week earlier on Christmas Day.

However, there are increasing concerns that Apple will post its first annual decline of iPhone shipments, as we draw closer the earnings report after the close. This would be the first time that iPhone shipments declined since its inception in 2007, and after multiple Apple suppliers have warned of shrinking demand. Although, no supplier has pointed to Apple as the cause of slowing demand.
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The unofficial analyst projection for iPhones shipped in the fiscal first quarter is 76.54 million, which is up 3% from last year but still would be the slowest quarterly growth rate in Apple’s history.

A few analysts weighed in on Apple prior to the release of the earnings report:

FBR reiterated a Buy rating with a $150 price target.
Pacific Crest reiterated a Buy rating.
Piper Jaffray reiterated an Overweight rating with a $179 price target.
Credit Suisse reiterated a Buy rating with a $140 price target.
William Blair has an Outperform rating.

So far in 2016, Apple has outperformed the broad markets, with the stock down only about 5.5% year to date. While over the past 52 weeks, the stock is down 10.5%.

Shares of Apple were trading up 0.5% at $100.00 on Tuesday, with a consensus analyst price target of $247.67 and a 52-week trading range of $92.00 to $134.54.

About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.