Apple Expected to Report Best-Ever Second Quarter Today With Anticipated Clues About iPhone X Sales

aapl logo 2018Apple 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:

  • 2014: $45.6 billion

  • 2015: $58.0 billion

  • 2016: $50.6 billion

  • 2017: $52.9 billion

  • 2018: $60+ 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:

aapl q2 2018

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.

Tags: AAPL, Earnings

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Thumb 1

iPhone SE 4 With Apple's Own 5G Modem 'Confirmed' to Launch in March

Tuesday November 19, 2024 12:12 pm PST by
Barclays analyst Tom O'Malley and his colleagues recently traveled to Asia to meet with various electronics manufacturers and suppliers. In a research note this week, outlining key takeaways from the trip, the analysts said they have "confirmed" that a fourth-generation iPhone SE with an Apple-designed 5G modem is slated to launch towards the end of the first quarter next year. In line with previo...
airtag purple

AirTag 2 Rumored to Launch Next Year With These New Features

Sunday November 17, 2024 5:18 am PST by
Apple released the AirTag in April 2021, so it is now three over and a half years old. While the AirTag has not received any hardware updates since then, a new version of the item tracking accessory is rumored to be in development. Below, we recap rumors about a second-generation AirTag. Timing Apple is aiming to release a new AirTag in mid-2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman....
Magic Mouse Next to Keyboard

No, Apple CEO Tim Cook Didn't Say He Prefers Logitech's MX Master 3 Over the Magic Mouse

Sunday November 17, 2024 3:03 pm PST by
While the Logitech MX Master 3 is a terrific mouse for the Mac, reports claiming that Apple CEO Tim Cook prefers that mouse over the Magic Mouse are false. The Wall Street Journal last month published an interview with Cook, in which he said he uses every Apple product every day. Soon after, The Verge's Wes Davis attempted to replicate using every Apple product in a single day. During that...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Real Mock

Apple Releases iOS 18.1.1 and iPadOS 18.1.1 With Security Fixes

Tuesday November 19, 2024 10:10 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 18.1.1 and iPadOS 18.1.1, minor updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating systems that debuted earlier in September. iOS 18.1.1 and iPadOS 18.1.1 come three weeks after the launch of iOS 18.1. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. Apple has also released iOS 17.7.2 for...
at t turbo indicator iphone 16 pro max v0 8hrh7w5f3w1e1

AT&T Turbo Indicator Showing Up in iPhone Status Bar for Subscribers

Wednesday November 20, 2024 3:42 am PST by
AT&T has begun displaying "Turbo" in the iPhone carrier label for customers subscribed to its premium network prioritization service, according to reports on Reddit. The new indicator seems to have started appearing after users updated to iOS 18.1.1, but that could be just coincidence. Image credit: Reddit user No_Highlight7476 The Turbo feature provides enhanced network performance through ...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature Single Camera 1 Redux

'iPhone 17 Air' Rumored to Surpass iPhone 6 as Thinnest iPhone Ever

Monday November 18, 2024 1:07 pm PST by
In a research note with Hong Kong-based investment bank Haitong today, obtained by MacRumors, Apple analyst Jeff Pu said he agrees with a recent rumor claiming that the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" will be around 6mm thick. "We agreed with the recent chatter of an 6mm thickness ultra-slim design of the iPhone 17 Slim model," he wrote. If that measurement proves to be accurate, there would be ...
bug security vulnerability issue fix larry

Make Sure to Update: iOS 18.1.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1.1 Fix Actively Exploited Vulnerabilities

Tuesday November 19, 2024 10:52 am PST by
The iOS 18.1.1, iPadOS 18.1.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1.1 updates that Apple released today address JavaScriptCore and WebKit vulnerabilities that Apple says have been actively exploited on some devices. With the JavaScriptCore vulnerability, processing maliciously crafted web content could lead to arbitrary code execution. The WebKit vulnerability had the same issue with maliciously crafted...

Top Rated Comments

WWPD Avatar
86 months ago
I really hope Apple can pull through, I like to root for the underdogs.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rogifan Avatar
86 months ago
I’ve never seen another company that generates so much noise around earnings. Every quarter Wall Street is in a panic about Apple. And it’s always that the next quarter is going to be bad. So last earnings call Wall Street was panicked about the March quarter. Now they’re panicked about June. And two months from now they’ll be panicked about September. What other company (tech or not) continuously has Wall Street panicked the way Apple does. I can’t think of one.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
5105973 Avatar
86 months ago
Hope everyone is ready to see Apple is doing quite well.
I’m neither ready nor unready. They aren’t giving me any of those billions. I also don’t own any of their stock. I’m just the idle curious up in the peanut gallery.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dirt_farmer Avatar
86 months ago
What the actual SNAP?! Can I call Google that, too? It's not 1990 for Apple. It's not 2001 for Google. If anyone really see Apple as the little guy shoving elbows just to get a seat on the big bus is astonishing, seeing history unfold as it has.
You have to look at trajectory, not position.

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.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dumastudetto Avatar
86 months ago
I’ve got four words for you:
I.
Love.
This.
Company.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bluecoast Avatar
86 months ago
I’ve got four words for you:
I.
Love.
This.
Company.
Developers, developers, developers!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)