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Apple Expected to Report Its Best Third Quarter Ever Today

Tuesday July 31, 2018 12:42 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple is set to report its earnings results for the third quarter of its 2018 fiscal year at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time today.

The quarter began April 1, 2018 and ran through June 30, 2018, according to Apple's fiscal year accounting calendar.

Apple provided the following guidance for the quarter back on May 1:
  • revenue of $51.5 billion to $53.5 billion
  • gross margin between 38 and 38.5 percent
  • op. ex. of $7.7 billion to $7.8 billion
  • other income/expense of $400 million
  • tax rate of approximately 14.5 percent
Apple's guidance suggests it will report its best third quarter results ever, by revenue, comfortably topping its 2015 record of $49.6 billion:
  • 2014: $37.4 billion
  • 2015: $49.6 billion
  • 2016: $42.4 billion
  • 2017: $45.4 billion
  • 2018: $51.5+ billion
Wall Street analysts forecast that Apple will report $52.3 billion revenue, meeting roughly the midpoint of its guidance, and earnings per share of $2.18, according to 29 estimates averaged by Yahoo Finance.

Key Takeaways and What to Look For

  • iPhone unit sales of around 41.7 million, according to a FactSet estimate.
  • Apple doesn't break out iPhone sales on a model-by-model basis, but the iPhone's average selling price should reveal whether the iPhone X remains Apple's best selling iPhone model since it launched, or if sales have slowed. iPhone ASP was $728 last quarter. $606 in year-ago quarter.
  • iPad unit sales should be boosted by the new sixth-generation 9.7-inch iPad, released March 27, just four days before the third quarter.
  • Apple's guidance for its fourth quarter, which runs from July 1 through September 29, as new iPhones will likely be available to order during the final two weeks of the quarter. Analysts expect revenue of $59.5 billion, based on 29 estimates averaged by Yahoo Finance.
  • Apple's comments on the trade war between the United States and China, and what impact it could have on Apple products, if any.
  • Continued growth of Apple's Services category, including the App Store, Apple Music, iCloud, iTunes, Apple Pay, and AppleCare. Loup Ventures expects Services growth of 19 percent on a year-over-year basis.
  • Continued growth of Apple's Other Products category, including the Apple Watch, Apple TV, HomePod, AirPods, Beats, iPod touch, and accessories, as Apple diversifies revenue beyond the iPhone.
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 occurs live.

Tags: earnings, AAPL
[ 57 comments ]


Top Rated Comments

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Avatar
now i see it
12 months ago
As Apple's wealth increases, the Mac user experience goes down the toilet. Funny how that works.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
OldSchoolMacGuy
12 months ago
Apple is doomed. Fire Tim Cook. /s
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
I7guy
12 months ago

Here come the stockholders with their doomed sarcasm rubbish.

Great for you and the execs who already don’t need more millions, but at best, utterly meaningless to consumers. At worst, it emboldens Apple to keep up with the gouging, which is clearly detrimental to the consumer.

I didn’t think Apple was forcing you to buy their products. There are “great” android phones available for half the price.
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
arkitect
12 months ago

As Apple's wealth increases, the Mac user experience goes down the toilet. Funny how that works.

So true.

Look, I want Apple to be successful. But this level of success tends to make a company (or a person) complacent… and that is where I find myself at odds with Apple.

A huge multi billion (trillion?) company resting on its laurels… in this case the success of the iPhone.

I yearn for the Apple with iCEO Jobs at the helm. Kicking arse and reinventing themselves. Great products and leading the way…

*shrug*
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
OldSchoolMacGuy
12 months ago

Well, I can tell you that I deleted my FB account as soon as that Cambridge Analytica shenannagin became public


Good for you. The numbers show that very very few did. Like less than 100,000. It wasn't nearly as big of a deal (from that standpoint) as people made it out to be. #DeleteFacebook was a huge failure.
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
bbednarz
12 months ago

Urgh, and here comes the either miss-the-point-totally or don’t-diss-my-beloved-corporation posts.

Urgh.

You've now posted essentially the same exact thing twice in 5 minutes.
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
travelsheep
12 months ago
€1200 for a phone, €3000 for a entry level MacBook Pro, €100 for the yearly developer license, keeping a 30 % cut on every app sale ... no surprises here
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
Bin Cook
12 months ago
Here come the stockholders with their doomed sarcasm rubbish.

Great for you and the execs who already don’t need more millions, but at best, utterly meaningless to consumers. At worst, it emboldens Apple to keep up with the gouging, which is clearly detrimental to the consumer.
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
droog
12 months ago
Barnum and Gates would be proud
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
OldSchoolMacGuy
12 months ago

I find it interesting that this quarter has been relatively quiet. Usually we get story after story about supply chain rumors predicting weak iPhone sales. This quarter we got nothing.


Those supply chain rumors have nearly all been unfounded. Remember how they all said that the iPhone X would be in incredibly short supply with orders backed up into 2018 and then it wasn't true at all? And the same had been rumored with the iPhone 7 release. While they did have a slight backorder, it wasn't anywhere near the months of backlog predicted.

I would guess after several rounds of completely inaccurate supply chain rumor, they don't fly so well anymore. One just has to look back at past rumors to see how off they've been. Why would we trust this one after several untrue previous supply chain rumors?
Rating: 1 Votes

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