Roundup of Analyst Expectations Ahead of Q2 2013 Earnings Call

Philip Elmer-Dewitt has assembled his quarterly list of analyst predictions ahead of Apple's earnings report this afternoon. The list includes estimates from 67 analysts: 26 "independent" and 41 "institutional" who work for large investment houses or research organizations.

This is one of the most important earnings calls of Apple CEO Tim Cook's tenure as CEO. Apple's stock price is down significantly from its highs of last year, and investors are concerned about Apple's growth prospects across both existing and new product lines.

Q22013
Typically, the amateur analysts expect significantly higher revenue and earnings than the professionals, but Elmer-Dewitt notes the gap is less than usual this time. The independent consensus has Apple just beating its guidance, while the pro's are expecting Apple to hit near the middle of its range.

The pros, as usual, are more cautious than the independents -- but not that much. The gap between the two group's average estimates (summarized above) as as close as I've ever seen them, with the amateurs calling for revenues only 1.3% higher than professionals.

In the first quarter, the company earned $13.1 billion in profit on revenue of $54.5 billion.

Last quarter Apple changed how it provides guidance, choosing to offer a range of guidance for what the company believes it can achieve, rather than a point prediction. Apple provided guidance for the second quarter for revenue of between $41 and $43 billion and gross margin between 37.5% and 38.5%.

Apple will announce its earnings for the second fiscal quarter of 2013 (first 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.

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Production Will Reportedly Begin Ramping Up in October

Tuesday July 23, 2024 2:00 pm PDT by
Following nearly two years of rumors about a fourth-generation iPhone SE, The Information today reported that Apple suppliers are finally planning to begin ramping up mass production of the device in October of this year. If accurate, that timeframe would mean that the next iPhone SE would not be announced alongside the iPhone 16 series in September, as expected. Instead, the report...
iPhone 17 Plus Feature

iPhone 17 Lineup Specs Detail Display Upgrade and New High-End Model

Monday July 22, 2024 4:33 am PDT by
Key details about the overall specifications of the iPhone 17 lineup have been shared by the leaker known as "Ice Universe," clarifying several important aspects of next year's devices. Reports in recent months have converged in agreement that Apple will discontinue the "Plus" iPhone model in 2025 while introducing an all-new iPhone 17 "Slim" model as an even more high-end option sitting...
Generic iPhone 17 Feature With Full Width Dynamic Island

Kuo: Ultra-Thin iPhone 17 to Feature A19 Chip, Single Rear Camera, Semi-Titanium Frame, and More

Wednesday July 24, 2024 9:06 am PDT by
Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today shared alleged specifications for a new ultra-thin iPhone 17 model rumored to launch next year. Kuo expects the device to be equipped with a 6.6-inch display with a current-size Dynamic Island, a standard A19 chip rather than an A19 Pro chip, a single rear camera, and an Apple-designed 5G chip. He also expects the device to have a...
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Less Than Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Thursday July 25, 2024 5:43 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
icloud private relay outage

iCloud Private Relay Experiencing Outage

Thursday July 25, 2024 3:18 pm PDT by
Apple’s iCloud Private Relay service is down for some users, according to Apple’s System Status page. Apple says that the iCloud Private Relay service may be slow or unavailable. The outage started at 2:34 p.m. Eastern Time, but it does not appear to be affecting all iCloud users. Some impacted users are unable to browse the web without turning iCloud Private Relay off, while others are...

Top Rated Comments

NutsNGum Avatar
147 months ago
26 independent analysts:

Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pgiguere1 Avatar
147 months ago
You don't seem to understand investors. They are not fan boys. They invest their money in hopes it will grow, not stagnate. So just because Apple makes billions if it's not making billions more quarter over quarter, i.e., growing, that's NOT a good thing.
Last quarters, the stock didn't drop because revenues didn't grow, it dropped because the growth of revenues didn't grow. They expect Apple's revenues to grow exponentially since that's what we've been accustomed to in recent years.

Even if Apple has, by a large margin, the highest profit share in 3 of the most profitable industries on earth (computers, smartphones and tablets), they're expected to continue growing very fast by introducing new super-profitable categories and again, grabbing most of their profits while said categories grow exponentially. All that without losing profit share in past categories while they also continue to grow. Easy task eh?

Meanwhile, companies like Amazon see their stock going up while they report no profit at all.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Chupa Chupa Avatar
147 months ago
In b4 Apple is doomed because it didn't meet Wall Street's expectations but still made billions of dollars.

You don't seem to understand investors. They are not fan boys. They invest their money in hopes it will grow, not stagnate. So just because Apple makes billions if it's not making billions more quarter over quarter, i.e., growing, that's NOT a good thing.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kaibelf Avatar
147 months ago
In b4 Apple is doomed because it didn't meet Wall Street's expectations but still made billions of dollars.
Agreed. I know of no other business that is called "doomed" because they "only" pull in margins above 35% every time, when others pull in something like 5% and are treated like the Second Coming.

----------

You don't seem to understand investors. They are not fan boys. They invest their money in hopes it will grow, not stagnate. So just because Apple makes billions if it's not making billions more quarter over quarter, i.e., growing, that's NOT a good thing.
Wrong. They want their money to double RIGHT NOW instead of exercising the patience that a sensible person would. That's why Warren Buffet plays the long game and reaps amazing success, and these other airchair experts are little more than get-rich-quick-demanding fools.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
troop231 Avatar
147 months ago
It's been exactly 6 months since the last Apple event, something needs to happen soon!
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
impulse462 Avatar
147 months ago
In b4 Apple is doomed because it didn't meet Wall Street's expectations but still made billions of dollars.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)