Get set for Apple to report boffo results from its latest financial quarter on Thursday. Wall Street expects Apple’s earnings report to reflect a record-breaking holiday season, with analysts anticipating significant growth driven by strong iPhone 17 demand.
Revenue may be up as much 11% year over year. Apple hasn’t seen revenue growth that strong since 2022. This should lead to truly stellar earnings per share.
Surging iPhone 17 sales fuel record Apple earnings forecasts
Ever since the iPhone 17 lineup launched in September, there have been reports that it’s simply flying off store shelves. Revenue from Apple services like Apple Music and iCloud+ is supposedly growing, too. And a new iPad Pro also launched during the fall.
In October, Apple CEO Tim Cook predicted the current quarter would be “the best ever in the history of the company.”
So it comes as no surprise that Wall Street analysts sound very upbeat about the financial results Apple will announce on January 29 after the stock market closes.
The consensus is that revenue will hit $138 billion, up more than 11%, according to Yahoo Finance. Even during the pandemic, Apple’s revenue never climbed that high before. And analysts predict that earnings per share will reach $2.67, another double-digit increase — and another record.
Word straight from the Apple CEO
Minutes after Apple’s upcoming quarterly earnings announcement, CEO Tim Cook and CFO Kevan Parekh will hold a conference call with analysts and investors. They’ll answer questions about CapEx and channel inventory, but may well get into topics that interest average users.
Cook will surely be asked about Apple’s AI plans in the wake of the recent announcement that Google Gemini will provide the brains for the long-awaited Siri upgrade.
Cult of Mac will be on the call, too, and if Cook makes any revelations, expect to read about them here.
On the other hand…
High expectations can be a double-edged sword. Even a strong financial quarterly report could disappoint if it falls short of the market’s loftiest projections.
Also, guidance for the future may matter just as much as past performance. If Cook or Parekh warns during Thursday’s call that Apple is struggling for some reason in the current March quarter, AAPL shares could tank overnight.
But that’s unlikely. Based on its high-flying performance so far, the iPhone 17 series seems capable of propelling Apple through several more successful quarters.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 25 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh Classic II (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer. He’s written for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview, and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
