For analysts worried about the impact of the so-called ‘Antennagate’ on Apple earnings, yesterday’s record revenue report was welcome relief. “To those (like us) who fretted that Antennagate might hamper iPhone sales, Apple’s guidance seems to say, antennagate, schmantennagate,” Oppenheimer’s Yair Reiner told investors Wednesday morning.
You might remember Reiner’s comments ahead of Tuesday night’s earnings report, including his decision to cut his expectations on third-quarter iPhone sales. “The perception — created by a scoop-hungry media and Apple’s newly-emboldened wireless adversaries — is that the 4 is faulty,” Reiner said. Instead of being hurt, Apple reported iPhone sales grew 61 percent to 8.4 million.
“The revenue guidance was surprisingly strong,” wrote Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu. Indeed. The Cupertino, Calif. company estimates it will earn $18 billion next quarter and Mac and iPhone sales both reported higher sales. “Apple could be indirectly expressing confidence that ‘antennagate’ concerns were overdone,” Wu adds.
With the June quarter numbers out and many concerns pushed to the back, many analysts feel the best for Apple is yet to come. “Apple is benefiting from a cascade of three strong, synergistic product cycles: iPHone, iPad and Mac, which are combining together to dive the strongest outperformance in four years – with more to come,” RBC Capital’s Mike Abramsky notes.
Others feel Apple is just taxiing and has plenty of runway left for impressive future gains. “While current quarter results were very impressive, we see open runway for the three major product cycles ramping in the second half of 2010 and beyond which should drive continued momentum,” Deutsche Bank’s Chris Whitmore said.
“We estimate that if Apple meets our Mac, iPhone and iPad targets in 2011, the company will have only about five percent market share in the phone and computer markets, a number that will likely grow over time,” according to Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster.
[Fortune]
