Analysts predict Apple will return to growth when the company announces its quarterly earnings later today, reports Philip Elmer-Dewitt of Fortune. Growth will be in the single digits and will be an improvement over the negative earnings growth the company reported for the previous three quarters. Apple is not, however, expected to return to the 50% growth it achieved between 2010 and 2012.
The consensus estimates among the 47 Apple analysts we've heard from so far -- 29 Wall Street professionals and 18 Internet amateurs -- are for earnings of $14.36 per share on sales of $58.1 billion. That represents year-over-year growth of 4.0% for earnings and 6.6% for revenue.
Eighty percent of Fortune's surveyed analysts estimate Apple's revenue will fall within the company's guidance of $55 to $58 billion. Six analysts predict Apple will beat the street with revenue that tops $58 billion. Consensus estimates also predict Apple will sell a record 55 million iPhones and 25 million iPads in 1Q 2014.
Apple will report its quarterly earnings today after the close of trading, at approximately 4:30 PM Eastern / 1:30 PM Pacific. MacRumors will have full coverage of Apple's earnings release and the conference call taking place at 5:00 PM Eastern / 2:00 PM Pacific.
