Strong Q3, Q4 In Store for Apple

April 24th, 2007 at 3:00 PM - Apple Stock Watch by Jeff Gamet

Tiger is delayed until October, iPhone doesnit ship until June, stock option grant issues still haunt the company, so what does Apple have to be positive about? Plenty, even though Apple will likely report second quarter earning driven primarily by iPod sales. Apple may offer investors a relatively quiet earnings report Wednesday afternoon, but the rest of the year should hold lots of good news for investors, according to The Street.

Investors probably wonit see much added to Appleis bottom line from Apple TV sales yet because the device didnit start shipping until near the end of the quarter. Appleis third quarter, however, will likely be a different story since the home media appliance will have been shipping for a full quarter.

The iPhone will start shipping in June, which will add a partial quarter worth of sales to Appleis bottom line. Although the highly anticipated iPod/smart phone combination will be available for only about half the year, it will likely add a substantial amount to the companyis annual earnings.

Appleis second quarter earnings, although not as rosy, should still be healthy. Romeo Dator, co-manager of the U.S. Global Investors All American Equity Fund, commented "I think they will report a slight upside to the consensus revenue and EPS."

Mr. Dator is predicting Apple will beat analyst expectations by reporting 10.7 million iPods sold while reporting in-line Mac sales at 1.45 million. Gross margins could also come in slightly higher than expected at 30 percent instead of Appleis guidance of 29.5 percent.

The general consensus is that Apple will report revenue for the quarter at US$5.17 billion with a $0.64 profit per share. Looking forward, analysts expect Appleis third quarter will end with $5.44 billion in revenue and $0.67 per share profit.

Apple will report its second quarter earnings during an investor conference call Wednesday afternoon. Be sure to check back with TMO for our event coverage.

Apple is currently trading at $94.11, up 0.87 (0.93%).

<!--#include virtual="/includes/newsite/series/stockwatch.shtml"-->