After a couple months of questioning, tech giant Apple is expected to answer Wall Street concerns with a resounding successful third quarter, led by blockbuster iPad 2 sales and the return of the ‘Wow’ factor.
“The return of the wow factor and new product cycles should jettison the fear that had been dogging valuation the last couple of months,” JPMorgan Chase analyst Mark Moskowitz said.
Apple should report $5.5 billion in third-quarter profit with sales of $25 billion, according to a consensus of Wall Street experts polled by Bloomberg Tuesday. The tech giant is expected to release official figures for the three-month period ended June 25 later today.
Despite no new iPhone until September, Moskowitz forecasts Apple will sell 19.6 million devices, up from 8.4 million during the same period last year. The company sold a record 18.7 million iPhones during the second quarter of 2011.
This quarter likely will be “fairly mild” for iPhone sales, says Needham & Co. analyst Charlie Wolf, but increased move from feature phones to smartphones should benefit Apple. “The iPhone is likely to capture a significant percentage of feature phone users who migrate to smartphones,” he tells Bloomberg.
Although iPhone sales may be mild, not so for iPad 2 demand. Analysts expect Apple will announce 7.7 million iPads sold during the last quarter, up from the record 7.3 million sold during the 2010 holiday period. The third quarter was the first full three-month sales period for the iPad 2. The company recently freed itself of supply shortages that caused some delays and loss of sales, according to Pacific Crest Securities analyst Andy Hargreaves.
As for Mac sales, Stanford & Bernstein’s Tony Sacconaghi expects 4.26 million Macs will sell, up from the record 4.13 million Macs in the first quarter. As for the all-important gross margin, analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect 39.2 percent, landing squarely between Apple’s forecast for 38 percent and the second quarter’s 41.4 percent.
No matter the numbers, Wall Street is seeing Apple in a renewed light. The only question is will that renewed enthusiasm spread to consumers deluged by news of the latest item coming from Steve Jobs’ Cupertino idea factory.
