Today is a massive day for the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) corporation, as their latest earnings information will be released to the city. This is particularly important for the tech firm as their last financial results were less than impressive as far as the markets were concerned, and the company’s share price took a bit of a kicking. So will today’s earnings be good news for the world’s most successful smartphone maker, or will the world’s biggest brand slip a little further?
Moderate expectations
The first thing to say is that the city’s expectations will not be as severe as last time. The last quarter for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) included the release of an iPhone, always of course a key element of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s profitability. And it wasn’t as if sales of the iPhone went badly; in fact, Apple posted record sales figures. This may lead the uninitiated to wonder why the markets responded negatively to them. The reason was quite simply that market analysts perceived that there was little immediate prospect for growth in Apple’s portfolio.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) responded to this by stating that the company was well aware that the iPhone in its present form was perhaps running out of legs, and indications regarding the production of the iPhone 6 are that it will be a radical departure from past releases. In addition to this shifting iPhone focus, the Apple hierarchy also indicated that the company would be working on new product ranges which would debut in the next 18 months.
But the fact that this all remains talk and hearsay, and that there are few solid plans, and no new products, that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) can point to, means that the city’s expectations for these latest fiscal figures is pretty muted. It’s hard to see that Apple can go in any other direction other than horizontally with these latest figures, and even if they disappoint it might not be a crippling blow for Apple, given that the markets will probably have factored this in to the company’s share price already, at least to some degree.
Cash-rich Apple
However, there are still interesting topics to pay attention to during the announcement. Perhaps one key issue will be Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) updating shareholders on returning some of its vast cash reserves to them. While any investor is glad to hear that a company is thoroughly solvent, Apple has been criticized for concealing billions away from US taxation; a strategy that hasn’t exactly been a sweet pill for everyday taxpayers to swallow in these days of austerity.
The latest iPhone figures will also be of interest, particularly with regards to how Apple intends to proceed with the iPhone 6. The overwhelming assumption with regard to this future release is that Apple will make at least two models of the iPhone 6, and maybe more, and thus figures related to the underperforming iPhone 5c will be garner attention. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is keen on making gains in the budget smartphone market alongside its premium reputation, but it may have to rethink its approach if the iPhone 5c continues to record lukewarm figures.
Undoubtedly, something of interest will come up in figures released by the world’s biggest and most important tech company, and you can rest assured that ValueWalk will keep you to up-to-date with all the developments.
