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Apple is set to report its earnings results for the second quarter of its 2018 fiscal year at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time today.
The quarter began December 31, 2017 and ended March 31, 2018, according to Apple's fiscal year accounting calendar.
Apple provided the following guidance for the quarter back on February 1:
- revenue between $60 billion and $62 billion
- gross margin between 38 and 38.5 percent
- operating expenses between $7.6 billion and $7.7 billion
- other income/expense of $300 million
- tax rate of approximately 15 percent
Apple's guidance suggests the company will report its best second quarter results ever, topping its previous record of $58 billion:
Wall Street analysts forecast that Apple will report $60.9 billion revenue, meeting roughly the midpoint of its guidance, and earnings per share of $2.69, according to over 30 estimates averaged by Yahoo Finance.
MacRumors has compiled second quarter revenue and EPS estimates from a handful of Apple-focused analysts:
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Key Takeaways and What to Look For
- Apple is expected to report iPhone unit sales of 51.9 million, a roughly two percent increase over 50.8 million in the year-ago quarter, according to average analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
- Apple doesn't break out iPhone sales on a model-by-model basis, but the iPhone's average selling price should reveal whether there's any truth to reports that iPhone X sales have slowed significantly. iPhone ASP was $796 last quarter, up from $695 a year earlier.
- Of increasing importance is continued growth of Apple's services category, including the App Store, Apple Music, iCloud, iTunes, Apple Pay, and AppleCare. The average analyst estimate is around $8.3 billion, according to Gene Munster, up from $7.04 billion in the year-ago quarter.
- With increasing competition from Huawei, Vivo, and Oppo, Apple's performance in Greater China will be a focus. Apple reported revenue of $10.4 billion in the region in the year-ago quarter.
- Apple said it would provide an update on its capital return program during today's conference call, and many analysts expect significant increases, given the company's plans to repatriate an estimated $250+ billion in overseas cash under new tax laws in the United States.
- Apple's third quarter guidance will set expectations for April-June, which has historically been the slowest period of the company's fiscal year. The average revenue estimate is currently $52.04 billion, according to Yahoo Finance, which would top $45.4 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Apple's CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri will discuss the company's earnings results on a conference call at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time today. MacRumors will loosely transcribe the one-hour call as it happens.
Top Rated Comments
Apple today is what Blackberry was in 2007. Amazing at what they did and the de facto standard among wide swaths of society.
But also camping on ten-year-old ideas with no significant game changers in the R&D pipeline.
If you were at Blackberry in 2008 you would be reveling in the greatest balance sheet in the company's history...and in dominating your market space!
What you would not realize and what Apple does not realize is that the old ideas can't carry you forever.
And in case you don't think that the comparison is fair, remember that Blackberry at it's peak was #1 in the smartphone market.
Apple is currently #2 and declining.
Scroll through this and tell me that Blackberry didn't just have a few revolutionary ideas from the 90's that they milked all through the 2000's for obscene profit:
https://www.engadget.com/2009/12/28/ten-years-of-blackberry/
Meanwhile, every world-changing paradigm at Apple was developed by Steve Jobs.
Since then, they have invented dongles and baubles and earphones and a speaker that no one bought. And a watch that didn't really take off.
So yes, it's 1990 again for Apple. They just don't know it yet.
I.
Love.
This.
Company.