Analysts Expect Apple To Focus On Short-Term
9:43 am, September 29th, 2008, Ed Sutherland
What should we expect to hear from Apple Tuesday when it releases its fiscal fourth quarter numbers? Analysts offered Cult of Mac a preview of sorts, providing what they think CEO Steve Jobs will say tomorrow.
The overriding theme will be how Apple confronts the economic downturn which seems to be striking at the heart of the company’s consumer-oriented buyers.
ThinkPanmure analyst Vijay Rakesh believes Tuesday will include much of what he’s been predicting since last week: a slight trimming of quarterly revenue to $7.8 billion, down from the previously projected $7.9 billion. Rakesh believes cheaper PCs and the influx of netbooks from Dell and others will dent Apple hardware sales.
Both Morgan Stanley and RBC Capital seem to agree with Rakesh, both downgrading Apple on concerns of slowing sales.
“Even in the best of scenarios Apple’s EPS growth will decelerate meaningfully from June quarter levels,” Morgan Stanley analyst Hubert wrote Monday.
Avi Greengart, a handset analyst for Current Analysis, told Cult of Mac he hopes some of the rumors of changes in the iPhone lineup are true.
“I’d love to see higher capacity iPhones with easy synchronization for both music and movies – including rentals – the iPhone runs out of storage faster than most mobile devices,” Greengart said.
There has been talk of Apple lowering the price of the 16GB iPhone and introducing a 32GB iPhone. Pacific Crest last week said its “supply chain checks” indicate Apple is not refreshing 8GB iPhones sold through AT&T retail stores.
“Barring some bad bunny like irregular options dates, blazing batteries, naughty products, or some other jack-in-the-box, I expect Apple to focus everyone’s attention on their recent performance, short-term prospects, and a hint about products nearing release,” MetaFacts analyst Dan Ness told Cult of Mac.
Photo: Flickr
Posted by Ed Sutherland in Apple, News | Comment on this article
Does this mean Apple is making an official statement tomorrow? If so, how do u know?
Lolo, on September 29th, 2008 at 10:30 am
So, does this mean Apple will be releasing n official statement tomorrow? What can we expect?
Lolo, on September 29th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Yeah, since when does AAPL (or most any company) release any financial results the same day the quarter ends? Normally, it’s ~3-4 weeks later.
Paul Lustgarten, on September 29th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
“I’d love to see higher capacity iPhones with easy synchronization for both music and movies – ”
Has this bloke ever used an iPhone? It couldn’t be simpler than the current arrangement to click a few checkboxes in iTunes
Pmoes, on September 29th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Yeah – Apple won’t be releasing its quarterly results until October 22nd … just like usual. (And that’s a Wednesday (just like usual), not a Tuesday.)
Paul Lustgarten, on September 29th, 2008 at 5:30 pm