American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu on Monday issued a note in which he cut his June quarter revenue, EPS and iPod sales estimates to US$4.4 billion, $0.44, and 8.5 million, respectively. He previously had those numbers at $4.5 billion, $0.46 and 9 million, while Wall Street consensus estimates are currently at $4.8 billion, $0.48, and 10-11 million iPods.
Mr. Wu explained his reasons for the change: "With the Intel transition and high inventory of older iPod Nanos, our sources indicate that AAPL is aiming to work down inventories, particularly PowerPC Macs (iBook G4, 12-inch and 17-inch PowerBook G4s, PowerMac G5) and 2GB/4GB Nanos in front of potential future product announcements."
He said that he believes those actions will impact Appleis next fiscal quarter, which is the third of its current fiscal year. For Appleis 2007 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, the analyst expects $22.1 billion in revenue and $2.45 EPS, numbers he left unchanged because "we believe the INTC transition will be mostly completed by then with AAPL benefiting from new product momentum, including Mac OS X Leopard and new digital entertainment products."
Mr. Wu left his "Buy" rating on Appleis stock. At 11:51 AM EST on Monday, the companyis shares were selling for $63.57, up 1.36% for the day.