Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is due to release its earnings numbers for the June quarter of 2013 this afternoon right after the bell rings on Wall Street. The coming release has led, as always, to a flurry of speculations and a mountain of reports from analysts following the company.
Trading of the company’s has been non-committal for a long time since the slide in the value of the firm toward the end of 2012 and in the early part of the year. On today’s market shares were trending down a fraction at time of writing. Analysts are looking for earnings of $7.28 per share for the company on revenue of $34.9 billion.
Apple will beat
Keith Bachman of BMO Capital Markets is the lead analyst on a new report that estimates Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will beat analyst estimates on both revenue and earnings in this afternoons release. The report from BMO estimates that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) earned $7.98 per share in the company’s third fiscal quarter 2013.
Bachman highlights the problems with the new Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) guidance regimen which has caused a huge amount of problems for analysts trying to estimate the company’s earnings. The report is also reticent on the likelihood of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) releases a large screen iPhone, though the analysts are confident that the Cupertino firm is readying a smart watch for release to the public.
iPad outlook poor; iPhones positive
The outlook for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iconic tablet computer the iPad isn’t all that good according to this report. The analysts are looking for 16 million units shipped in the June quarter, and looking ahead to 87 million units for FY 2014. The Android and Windows tablet offerings are beginning to eat into those offered by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a big way.
On the other hand the outlook for the company’s most successful product, the iPhone, is good according to the BMO analysis. The gross margin on the iPhone is projected to grow to 43.5%, from 42.2% in the same quarter of 2012. If that prediction comes true it will put some of the worries of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) investors at ease. The firm’s gross margins are some of the most important metrics for Apple investors.
There are long term worries for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), however. The analysts think that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is unlikely to keep its share of smart phone profits in the long term. There isn’t ny timeline on that decline, however.
