- Apple is scheduled to release its fourth quarter results after the market closes on Wednesday.
- Wall Street expects sales of $94.36 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $1.60.
- Analysts are predicting mixed results and want to see whether AI capabilities will boost future iPhone demand.
Apple, the world’s largest company by market capitalization, is in the spotlight as it prepares to report its fourth quarter results after the market closes on Wednesday.
The quarter, which ended September 30, summarizes two weeks of sales for Apple’s iPhone 16 lineup.
The stock was trading about 1.4% lower at $230.40 as of 1:50 p.m. ET.
Here’s what Wall Street expects from Apple in its fiscal fourth quarter report, according to Bloomberg data.
- Revenue: $94.36 billion
- Adjusted earnings per share: $1.60
Wall Street will primarily be focused on the company’s guidance for the upcoming holiday season, which has historically represented Apple’s strongest quarter.
The biggest question for analysts covering the stock is whether Apple’s AI efforts will pay off and drive demand for the iPhone 16, or whether consumers are taking a wait-and-see attitude. is.
The company released the first round of Apple Intelligence features this week, about six weeks after the iPhone 16 was released. Meanwhile, Apple’s core AI capabilities aren’t expected to be released for iPhone until early next year.
Here’s what Wall Street is expecting from Apple’s upcoming earnings report.
Bank of America: “Ignore the iPhone 16 noise”
With some conflicting views on Wall Street about iPhone 16 demand in recent weeks, Bank of America says investors should “ignore the iPhone 16 noise and focus on the impact of Apple Intelligence. ”
Bank of America analyst Wasmi said, “In contrast to every cycle, where all hardware/software features are more or less static throughout the course of the cycle, we have “We expect to see more critical software updates and more dynamic cycles.” Mohan said in a memo last week.
Mohan said demand for iPhones will pick up in the coming months as Apple’s AI capabilities become more powerful, and he expects the company to sell 80 million iPhones during the holiday season.
Mohan is encouraged by the slight increase in the average selling price of iPhones, as consumers overwhelmingly continue to gravitate towards the more expensive Pro models.
Bank of America rates Apple a “buy” with a price target of $256.
JP Morgan: Earnings will outperform, but forecasts will be off.
JPMorgan says Apple is likely to report a strong fourth-quarter earnings report and beat revenue and profit expectations, but a weaker-than-expected guidance for the holiday quarter will also disappoint. I expect it to be deaf.
“Sell-through for the iPhone 16 series has gotten off to a slower start than for the iPhone 15, and while momentum has improved in recent weeks, the scale of the improvement still means sales volumes are still on track for last year’s sales,” JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee said in a Monday note. “It’s slightly below that.”
Like many Wall Street analysts, Chatterjee is looking for evidence that AI features will lead to higher iPhone sales.
JP Morgan rates Apple “overweight” and has a price target of $265.
Wedbush: Apple will become a $4 trillion company next year
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives remains bullish on Apple ahead of the earnings release. He argues that the iPhone is on the verge of a supercycle as consumers upgrade their phones to access Apple Intelligence features.
“We expect strong iPhone performance in the September quarter, and even though a lot of bears have been screaming fire at packed theaters lately due to strong iPhone 16 sales, iPhone demand in December is expected to be strong.” “We expect Cook & Company to issue relatively bullish comments on this issue,” Ives said. Sunday memo.
Ives said his bearish view of Apple is due to its installed base of 1.5 billion iPhones that will eventually need to be replaced, the growth of its services business that helps monetize its huge user base, and the fact that Apple It says it has not evaluated its potential to be a gatekeeper. Bringing AI technology to the masses.
Wedbush rates Apple an “outperform” with a price target of $300.
Goldman Sachs: “The consensus shows signs of improvement”
Goldman Sachs said in a note last week that it sees “upside to consensus earnings and EPS from iPhone and services outperformance.”
Goldman analyst Michael Ng expects the company to report earnings of $1.61 a share and revenue of $94.5 billion, representing 6% year-over-year growth.
Like other analysts, Ng is focused on the impact of AI and all the software features Apple plans to release in the coming months.
“Apple Intelligence is not driving demand yet, but iOS 18.1 (week of October 28th, includes writing tools, notification summary, and photo cleanup), iOS 18.2 (currently scheduled for December release) The beta includes Genmoji, Image Playground, ChatGPT), and iOS 18.4 (scheduled for release in March 2025, with more advanced Siri, personalization, and on-screen recognition),” Ng said. says.
Goldman Sachs rates Apple a “buy” with a price target of $275.