Proactive Investors - Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL, ETR:APC) is expected to deliver a small revenue beat for the September quarter and better-than-expected guidance for the December quarter, analysts at the Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) have projected ahead of the iPhone maker’s Q3 earnings drop after tonight's closing bell.
Wall Street analysts on average expect Apple to report earnings per share (EPS) of $1.53 on revenue of $94.32 billion, which marks growth of about 5% year-over-year for both measures.
For the September quarter, Bank of America sees iPhone sales of 52 million, and 80 million for the three-month period ending in December.
They expect Services revenue to grow by 14% in both quarters.
“We note that Apple is expected to see a one-time tax hit to earnings in the September quarter associated with the payment of taxes of $10 billion ($0.65 hit to EPS), excluding which we expect the company to marginally beat consensus,” they wrote in a note to clients.
“We see potential strength from wearables (new AirPods, Watch series 10), new MacBooks and new iPads to boost December quarter revenue relative to Street.”
The analysts iPhone demand picking up following the initial release of Apple Intelligence in late October.
“iOS 18.2 Beta reflects integration with ChatGPT and initial feedback suggests it will be compelling,” they wrote.
They added that the Street’s gross margins consensus is too low, expecting guidance of 45.5% to 46.5%, with the potential to be higher given revenue leverage as well as mix.
They repeated their ‘Buy’ rating on Apple and awarded it a $256 price objective.
Apple shares (NASDAQ:AAPL) traded down 1.3% at $227 in the early afternoon on Thursday amid a broader equities selloff.
- Updated with share price movement -