Roundup of Analyst Expectations Ahead of Q4 2012 Earnings Call

Philip Elmer-Dewitt has put together his list of analyst predictions ahead of Apple's quarterly earnings report this afternoon. The list includes estimates from 36 analysts: 16 "independent" and 20 "institutional" who work for large investment houses or research organizations.

As usual, the independents are much more bullish than the institutional analysts. The independent consensus expects earnings per share (EPS) of $9.66 on revenue of $37.23 billion. The institutional consensus is EPS of $8.75 on $35.51 billion in revenue. This is a 5% difference on revenue and a 10% difference on EPS, a smaller gap than we've seen in recent quarters.

Last quarter the company earned $8.8 billion in profit on revenue of $35 billion. For this quarter, Apple issued guidance of $34 billion in revenue with profits of $7.65 per share. The company typically exceeds its guidance by a significant margin.

Apple will announce its earnings for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2012 (third calendar quarter of 2012) and host a conference call regarding the release this afternoon at 5:00 PM Eastern / 2:00 PM Pacific. The earnings release itself typically comes in around 4:30 PM Eastern. MacRumors will have live coverage of the proceedings.

Though the September quarter is the final quarter of Apple's fiscal year, AllThingsD quotes JP Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz:

"Our view is that September quarter numbers do not matter," J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz said in a Wednesday research note to clients. "Apple can miss or beat. It does not matter. … In our view, the two important iPhone and iPad launches set the stage for big numbers to be reported in late January 2013 as relates to December quarter results."