Here’s a number to keep in mind: analysts expect earnings of $10.03. That implies a gain of 85 per cent from last year.
We expect results within the hour
Apple shares were down 2% in the regular session, and they're down more than 13% from recent highs. Expectations have turned sour.
For those joining on our main website, on the upper right you'll see a box with live discussion on Apple on StockTwits. Could make for an entertaining read as the results pour in.
Some other numbers to keep in mind ahead of the results: During its stellar first quarter, Apple sold 37 million iPhones, 15.43 million iPads, 15.4 million iPods and 5.2 million Macs
We'll be keeping a close eye on after markets trading. Note that Apple today saw its 10th decline in 11 sessions - quite remarkable
Appears to be a big beat. Reports Q2 EPS $12.3 vs $10.06 Est; Revenues $39.2B vs $36.81B Est
Apple sold 35.1 million iPhones
35.1-million iPhones is pretty huge. Even the whisper number was closer to 32-million.
Apple shares up 5.3% in after market trading
Not all good news, though. Looks like iPad numbers came in lower than expected, at 11.8-million (analysts expected something in the range of 13-million).
Apple shares continuing to climb, now up 6.5%
Gross margins also up considerably, at 47.4 per cent, compared to 41.4 per cent in the year-ago quarter.
IPad sales rose 151% to 11.8 million tablets. Mac sales rose 7% to 4 million computers. IPod sales fell, down 15%; but they sold 7.7 million of those.
Conference call begins at 5 pm. Lots more details then.
Apple shares now up more than 7 per cent after hours.
The question now is: Will Apple shares take a beating ahead of every quarterly earnings announcement, as investors try to guess when the company will finally report a miss?
Hints of things to come in Tim Cook's earnings statement: “The new iPad is off to a great start, and across the year you’re going to see a lot more of the kind of innovation that only Apple can deliver.”
Call starts in five minutes.
Analysts take their share of bashing, but it's interesting to note that they kept hiking their price targets on Apple even as investors were selling over the past two weeks.
Looks like guidance for the coming quarter was a little more conservative than some expected: Revenue of $34 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $8.68.
Call is starting. Dir of investor relations is going through boilerplate.
CFO and CEO are on the call.
CFO starts. "Very pleased" with "outstanding" quarter. Best 2Q ever.
4-million Mac sold in the quarter, about 7 per cent growth. CFO notes overall PC sales growing at only 2 per cent.
iPod sales down, but they've been dropping for years. Apple's share of the American MP3 market still hovers at about 70 per cent.
iPhone sales up 88 per cent year over year. Asia-Pacific region sales more than doubled. In China, sales quintupled.
iPad sales up more than 150 per cent year-over-year.
Apple's app store is now up to 600,000 apps, including 200,000 for iPad.
By the way, Apple is sitting on more than $110-billion in cash.
Here come the analyst questions.
Apple shares pretty steady since conf call began, now up 6.8% in post market
Apple's best numbers this quarter came from China, where sales of pretty much everything are up.
Consider Mac sales: Up roughly 7 per cent worldwide, but 60 per cent in mainland China.
On that note....Peter Karazeris, an analyst at Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, says via Bloomberg:“They are just getting started in China....,The company will get a lift when the iPhone is available on China Mobile, the country’s biggest carrier, with more than 600 million subscribers.
Cook visited China last month, meeting with government officials and visiting assembly plants where the company’s products are built.
Worldwide, Apple is still selling iPads pretty much as quickly as it can make them. New iPad still hasn't hit mainland China, but iPad 2 demand very high.
So, we’re going to wrap things up for our live blog on Apple. To sum up, Apple once again blew past Street estimates. Profit almost doubled to $11.6 billion (vs Street estimates of $9.2 billion) as revenue rose 59% to $39.2 billion. That’s its best second quarter, but not as strong as the record fourth quarter. It seems to have relieved investors somewhat over concerns about the company losing its growth, shares now up 6.9% in after market trading.
