Analysts Increasing Estimates Ahead of Apple Earnings Release

apple logoWith Apple set to report earnings for the third fiscal quarter and second calendar quarter of 2011 next Tuesday, July 19th, Wall Street analysts are beginning to line up their final predictions for Apple's performance. As noted by Barron's, a pair of analysts this morning issued new reports that show last-minute bumps in their estimates for the quarter.

Citigroup's Richard Gardner is now pegging quarterly iPhone shipments at 18 million units, an increase of 2 million units over his previous estimate and now above the Wall Street consensus in the range of 16.5-17 million units. Results at that level would come in just below the record 18.6 million iPhones shipped in the previous quarter and would be a very strong performance given the fact that many consumers are likely holding out for the next-generation iPhone.

Gardner places his iPad estimate at 8 million units, slightly above Wall Street consensus and well ahead of Apple's 4.69 million units shipped in the previous quarter as the company struggled to meet demand as it shifted production from the original iPad to the iPad 2. Overall, Gardner sees Apple's earnings per share now coming in at a healthy $6.34 for the quarter, nearly matching last quarter's strong performance.

In a separate report, UBS analyst Maynard Um similarly tweaked his estimates, pushing his iPad shipment figure up by 200,000 to 7.9 million while holding steady at a prediction of 18.35 million iPhone units. Um is looking for earnings per share of $5.88 and suggests that evidence of Apple's patent settlement with Nokia may appear in the financial results.

As always, analyst estimates are to be taken with a grain of salt, and professional analysts are known to consistently underestimate Apple's performance, suggesting that the company may indeed once again post very strong numbers. And with even the professional analysts increasing their estimates down the homestretch toward the earnings release, Apple appears to once again be in solid position.

Popular Stories

cook trump

Trump Responds to Apple Keeping Diversity Policies

Wednesday February 26, 2025 6:32 am PST by
In an all-caps post on Truth Social today, U.S. President Donald Trump said Apple should fully end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. Tim Cook meeting with President Trump in 2017 "APPLE SHOULD GET RID OF DEI RULES, NOT JUST MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THEM," he wrote. Trump's post comes one day after Apple held its annual shareholders meeting, during which a majority of...
iOS 18

Apple Says iOS 18.4 Will Be Released in April With These New Features

Wednesday February 26, 2025 7:15 am PST by
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 18.4 will be released in April. From the Apple News+ Food announcement:Coming with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April, Apple News+ subscribers will have access to Apple News+ Food, a new section that will feature tens of thousands of recipes — as well as stories about restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more — from the...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
iPhone Fold Vertical Feature

Apple's 2026 Foldable iPhone Has No Visible Display Crease – Report

Tuesday February 25, 2025 2:58 am PST by
Apple is making significant headway on its long-rumored foldable iPhone, with a new report suggesting the company has achieved a major breakthrough by effectively eliminating the screen crease that plagues current foldable devices. According to Korean publication ETNews, Apple is finalizing its component suppliers for the foldable iPhone, with the selection process expected to be completed...
trump iphone dictation issue

Apple Fixing 'Trump' Dictation Processing Bug

Tuesday February 25, 2025 1:18 pm PST by
Multiple iPhone owners today noticed a pronunciation processing issue that causes the word "Trump" to momentarily show up when using dictation to send a message with the word "racist." In some cases, when speaking the word racist through the iPhone's built-in dictation feature, the iPhone briefly interprets the spoken word as "Trump" and "Trump" text shows up in the Messages app before being ...
airpods pro purple

Here's When AirPods Pro 3 Are Rumored to Launch

Monday February 24, 2025 9:14 am PST by
According to a post on X today from a leaker known as Kosutami, Apple plans to launch AirPods Pro 3 in May or June this year. The leaker also claimed that an AirTag 2 will launch around the same time. Kosutami is best known as a collector of prototype Apple hardware, but they have occasionally shared accurate information about Apple's future product plans. For example, they accurately...
airtag orange

AirTag 2 Rumored to Launch in May or June With These New Features

Monday February 24, 2025 6:11 am PST by
Apple plans to launch a second-generation AirTag in May or June this year, according to a post today from a leaker known as Kosutami. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously reported that a new AirTag would be released in mid-2025. May or June would align with that timeframe. Below, we recap three new features rumored for the AirTag 2: With a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, the...
ios 18 4 carplay

iOS 18.4 Includes a Small But Useful Change for CarPlay

Sunday February 23, 2025 2:23 pm PST by
The first beta of iOS 18.4 is now available, and it includes a small but useful change for CarPlay. As we noted in our list of iOS 18.4 features, CarPlay now shows a third row of icons, up from two rows previously. However, this change is only visible in vehicles with a larger center display. For example, a MacRumors Forums member noticed the change in a Toyota Tundra, which can be equipped...

Top Rated Comments

Popeye206 Avatar
178 months ago
Sad to see Apple getting pummled by the competitors.... especially in the Tablet space... sad! :p

What's even sadder is a sold all my Apple stock at $150 and bought worthless solar stock that has done nothing by loose value. BFM! (B=Big, M=Mistake and F... well, you fill in the blank).
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Vandad NP Avatar
178 months ago
Shares

I would have really liked to have bought APPL shares during the year 2000.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Vantage Point Avatar
178 months ago
The analysts seem to increase there estimates every time and Apple still beat the estimates. Maybe they should take a punt on a really high figure.
The way the market works is the price of the stock goes up if it beats the estimates and down if the numbers are lower - not always true but that is the game in general because current prices reflect the so-called analysts estimates. It is a game they have played for a very long time. Just like 'buy the rumor and sell the news'
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
talkingfuture Avatar
178 months ago
The analysts seem to increase there estimates every time and Apple still beat the estimates. Maybe they should take a punt on a really high figure.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Masterotas Avatar
178 months ago
You say Fanboy, I say smart consumer. Regardless of if the product has a practical function or is economical, Apple products will sell because of the experience of owning it. To those with the means to own the products, the experience is invaluable. Why settle for anything less than the best? There are certain things that people won't skimp out on, even during tough economic times - and experiences such as these are reason enough to continue to buy the product. Apple only has a market share of about 4-5%? Imagine what would happen if that number doubled, tripled, quadrupled. I see Apple being the first trillion dollar company within 4 years, and I'm betting 60% of my portfolio on that belief. Then again, thats are just my 2 cents.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jonnysods Avatar
178 months ago
What a job. Making guesses and getting paid for it.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)