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Apple Expected to Report Strong Summer Revenue of $50B+ as Focus Shifts to iPhone X Launch Quarter

Thursday November 2, 2017 7:10 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple is set to report its earnings results for the fourth quarter of its 2017 fiscal year at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time today.

The fiscal quarter reflects Apple's sales between July 2 and September 30 of 2017.

Apple provided the following guidance for its fourth quarter back on August 1:

• revenue between $49 billion and $52 billion
• gross margin between 37.5 and 38 percent
• operating expenses between $6.7 billion and $6.8 billion
• other income/expense of $500 million
• tax rate of 25.5 percent

Apple's guidance suggests the company will report at least its second best fourth quarter earnings results in its history.

Wall Street analysts forecast that Apple will report $50.7 billion revenue and earnings per share of $1.87, according to 29 estimates averaged by Thomson Reuters.

A quarter-by-quarter look at Apple's revenue since the 2009 fiscal year:
Fourth Quarter Revenue
• 2013: $37.5B
• 2014: $42.1B
• 2015: $51.5B
• 2016: $46.9B
• 2017: $49B+


MacRumors.com compiled fourth quarter estimates from several financial institutions and analysts tracking Apple and the company's stock. The figures are listed below, ranked from highest to lowest in quarterly revenue.


Apple's fourth quarter earnings results will provide the first official indication of how well the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 are selling. The devices became available to pre-order on September 15, just over two weeks before the quarter ended, and launched in stores one week later on September 22.

Multiple reports have suggested that demand for the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus has been tepid, but that could be a side effect of pent up demand for the iPhone X. Apple staggered the release of its high-end smartphone, for which pre-orders began October 27, nearly six weeks after the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.

The most interesting takeaway will be Apple's guidance for the quarter we're in right now, which encompasses the launch of the iPhone X and the busy holiday shopping season. Over the past year, analysts have repeatedly predicted the highly-anticipated device will drive a significant "supercycle" of upgrades.

A high guidance range would suggest that Apple expects the iPhone X to sell very well, while a lower one would suggest that either demand is lower than thought or that Apple continues to face issues with ramping up supply of the device.

In addition to iPhone sales, investors will be looking for continued growth of Apple's services category, which includes the likes of the App Store, iTunes Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, AppleCare, and licensing fees. Apple's services revenue grew 22 percent to an all-time record of $7.3 billion last quarter.

Apple's services category has become the size of a Fortune 100 company, according to chief executive Tim Cook.

Cook and Apple's financial chief Luca Maestri will discuss the company's earnings results on a conference call at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time. MacRumors.com will transcribe the call as it unfolds for those unable to listen.

Tags: earnings, AAPL
[ 49 comments ]


Top Rated Comments

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Avatar
bbeagle
24 months ago

The slow death of the iPod continues.


The iPod is being reborn as the Apple Watch.
Rating: 8 Votes
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udayan81
24 months ago
Apple is doomed. Only $49B :P
Rating: 7 Votes
Avatar
Winni
24 months ago

Apple is doomed. Only $49B :p


As with IBM, Microsoft and many of the other big players... The problem lies not in the financial corner. It has something to do with RELEVANCE. I remember the time when the IT industry was afraid of IBM, and Microsoft was just another insignificant startup and Apple was - literally! - nowhere to be seen. Then came the rise of the PC clones and with it the rise of Microsoft. And Apple was still insignificant, because the world was now using Windows. The rise of the Internet changed all that, and then mobile gadgets turned the classic desktop into an almost irrelevant afterthought. We're now in a phase where market for mobile gadgets has matured AND saturated. It won't be long before the next big thing emerges, and the game - and with it the dominant player - will change again. In the meanwhile, companies are still buying IBM services and Microsoft Windows desktops and consumers are still buying Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. Those companies still make a ton of money. However, dominating tomorrow's technology they don't...
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
MLVC
24 months ago
I'm just hoping they'll announce Apple Pay for the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Poland etc. today. Fingers crossed!
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
melendezest
24 months ago

Hundreds of millions of happy customers strongly disagree with you.


Not that I really care, but I'll bite.

Exactly which part of my statement do they disagree with?

That the Apple of today is not the Apple of (up to) 6 years ago (when Steve was around)?

Or that it has nothing to offer me?

Or that I'm hoping for a bone that'll never come?
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
djcerla
24 months ago

The prices on Apple products are getting out of control under Tim Cook. At some point there will be a backlash, it's only a matter of time.


In related news, you can now buy the cheapest iPhone and lPad ever.
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
djcerla
24 months ago

If Apple has a beat here it will be quite impressive given how it's believed the iPhone 8 sold so slowly. It would likely mean a lot of iMacs and iPads were sold last quarter. That would be fantastic news. What I hope does not happen (as a fan, not investor) is that the services side eclipses Mac revenue. That would make me sad.


Start thinking about the iPhone as a lineup rather than a year model.

The lineup got much cheaper after the introduction of the iPhone 8, and economics laws are still in place afaik,
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
melendezest
24 months ago
It is obvious that the Apple I came into in 2001 and loved for 10 years is dead as frakkin' fried chicken.

The Apple of today has nothing to offer me, and revenues makes it look like they're in a trajectory to never do so.

Yet here I am, still hoping for a bone that may never come...
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
melendezest
23 months ago

At which point I think it may be easier for you to just start looking elsewhere for equivalent alternatives.

I am kinda in the same boat where I am looking for a laptop upgrade over my 2012 MBA but none of the current MacBook lineups catch my eye because they are too expensive. I might eventually settle on the 13” MBP without Touchbar though. But I am absolutely loving Apple's mobile product lineup right now (iPhone, iPad, AirPods, Watch, Pencil, Apple TV) and so I am staying put for that part of the ecosystem at the moment.


That's the most frustrating thing...there ARE no equivalent alternatives. I'm in the same boat with my laptops; the value is just not there for MBPs, but I'll have to bite the bullet eventually if I stay. To watch it die a slow death in favor of iOS is painful, but Apple's got me by the greeks there. The horrible keyboads, the ridiculous touchbar, the loss of MagSafe(!!), the dongle-hell, the sealed storage, the unnecessarily large and intrusive trackpad... I'm PISSED, man.

The macOS is a smooth, polished experience that still has no equal (Win 10 is good, but not great). Apple's laptops used to be the pinnacle of usability and performance. Now they're merely adequate (albeit good-looking) appliances/iOS accessories. Frak.

A dual-boot hackintosh may be in my immediate future (My teenage kids are BEGGING for a PC gaming rig and HATE my Macs with a passion), but I may just have to give in and leave the Mac altogether. I just don't have the time to deal with trying to keep a PC AND a hacked Mac running smoothly.

You have no idea how much it pains me to have to leave. That's how much I truly LOVE the (Mac) house that Steve built, and Tim's destroying brick-by-brick.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
Woyzeck
24 months ago
Apples problems are not (yet) on the financial side - as was with Microsoft ten years ago.
Rating: 1 Votes

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