Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has remained subdued relative to the rest of its big tech peers amid plateauing fundamentals, and investors look ahead to the first quarter earnings report due Thursday, after the close, to get clarity on whether the company succeeded in breaking a four-quarter revenue decline streak.
Key Q4 Expectations:
| Q1’24 Consensus* | Q1’23 | Q4’23 | |
| Revenue | $117.91B | $117.2 | $89.5B |
| Non-GAAP EPS | $2.10 | $1.88 | $1.46 |
| Gross margin | N/A | 42.96% | 45.17% |
*according to Benzinga Pro data
Apple’s first-quarter guidance issued in early November called for 2023-December quarter revenue to be flat with the year-ago period. This is despite having one less selling week than in the fourth quarter of 2022, said CFO Luca Maestri. He also flagged a one-percentage-point negative impact from forex. Since then, the U.S. dollar has weakened, potentially hurting the company less. The dollar index, which measures the greenback’s move against a basket of currencies, slid 4.36% in the December quarter amid expectations of Fed rate cuts.
Apple modeled a gross margin of 45% to 46%.
In a recent note, Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring said he expects a healthy December quarter beat, with revenue and earnings per share likely coming in at $119 billion and $2.13, respectively.
Apple Product Categories: Roughly 50% of revenue comes from Apple’s flagship product, the iPhone. The company hinted at revenue growth for the product, on an absolute basis as well, after normalizing for both last year’s supply disruptions and the one extra week.
Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said this week he expects iPhone sales to have fared well, with the consensus revenue estimate for the product at $ 68 billion.
Apple guided to a significant acceleration in the year-over-year revenue growth for Macs in the first quarter but warned of a significant deceleration in revenue growth for iPads as well as “Wearables, Home and Accessories” due to a different launch timing for these products.
See Also: Everything You Need To Know About Apple Stock
Outlook: For the second quarter, analysts expect earnings per share of $1.57 and revenue of $95.95 billion, on average. This compares to the year-ago earnings of $1.52 and revenue of $94.8 billion.
Morgan Stanley’s Woodring expects the company to guide the March quarter down. He…
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