- Apple reports first-quarter earnings on Wednesday after the market close.
- Analysts expect Apple to exceed $100 billion in revenue for the first time ever.
Apple will report first-quarter earnings on Wednesday after the closing bell in a quarter that many analysts expect to be highly robust. Analysts are predicting the tech giant to post quarterly revenue exceeding $100 billion for the first time, driven by early adopters of 5G iPhones and continued work-from-home habits.
The consensus estimate is $102.76 billion in sales for the quarter ended December 31, Apple's fiscal first quarter, according to 27 analysts estimates via Yahoo Finance.
"The Street is anticipating robust results from Apple on Wednesday after the bell with Cupertino expected to handily beat Street estimates across the board," said Wedbush's Daniel Ives.
Here's what 4 analysts on Wall Street except from Apple's first-quarter earnings report.
JPMorgan, Price Target $150, Overweight rating
Analysts led by Samik Chatterje said they're forecasting a "blockbuster beat" for Apple on Wednesday.
"Apple will report its first $100bn+ revenue quarter with the momentum from early adopters of 5G iPhones as well as continuing WFH tailwinds to iPad and Mac lineup; we expect above drivers to help in reporting a large beat to sell-side consensus as implied in our (likely street-high) revenue/EPS estimate of $110 bn/ $1.56 vs. consensus $102 bn/$1.41 for F1Q (Dec-end)."
The analysts forecast Apple to sell 80 million iPhone units in the first quarter, which will support iPhone revenues of $66 billion.
Wedbush, Price Target $175 (raised from $160), Outperform rating
"Based on our Asia supply chain checks, we strongly believe the iPhone 12 supercycle hype has become a reality with this week giving the Street its first glimpse of underlying iPhone 12 demand and key commentary from Cook looking ahead into the next few quarters," Wedbush's Dan Ives said.
"While the Street is forecasting roughly 220 million iPhone units for FY21, we believe based on the current trajectory and in a bull case Cupertino has potential to sell north of 240 million units (~250 million could be in the cards - an eye popping figure) which would easily eclipse the previous Apple record of 231 million units sold in FY15. Importantly, with our estimation that 350 million of 950 million iPhones worldwide are currently in the window of an upgrade opportunity, we believe this will translate into an unprecedented upgrade cycle for Cook & Co. and represents a "sweep the leg" moment against the lingering bear camp."
Goldman Sachs, Price Target $80, Sell Rating
"We believe the shift of consumer disposable income toward vacations, restaurants, and other outside of the home spending as re-opening occurs is likely to act as a negative catalyst for Apple's stock just as COVID lockdowns represented a tailwind," said Goldman analysts led by Rod Hall.
"We forecast revenue of $105.3bn (FactSet consensus $102.2bn), gross margin of 38.2% (consensus 38.1%), EBIT margin of 27.9% (consensus 27.6%) and EPS of $1.45 (consensus $1.40)."
CFRA Research, Price Target $160 (raised from $145), Buy opinion
"We are upping our iPhone estimates for the Dec-Q/Mar-Q as well as for FY 21 and FY 22, as we believe AAPL's 5G devices and pent-up demand in China is spurring better than expected sales. Momentum for iPads and Macs are tracking ahead of expectations and appear as if they could persist through at least the first half, while wearables should see 20% plus growth ahead. We expect Services growth of 14%-15% in the Dec-Q and Mar-Q, but comparisons will get tough as the segment laps pandemic figures," said Angelo Zino of CFRA.