Earnings Preview: Apple

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) said in April it expected to announce earnings of 66 cents per share for its quarterly report due on Wednesday but Wall Street analysts are anticipating a significantly higher result.

The Cupertino Calif.-based maker of Macintosh computers and iPod music players, had said the revenue outlook for its fiscal third-quarter would be $5.1 billion. A poll of analysts from data services firm Thomson Financial expects earnings of 72 cents per share on $5.29 billion in sales.

We anticipate revenue and EPS (earnings per share) well above its guidance, Shaw Wu told clients in research released Monday. Wu expects 73 cents per share on $5.3 billion in revenue.

Wu expects the company to report 9.7 million iPod's sold through the June quarter, and 64 million Macs sold.

During the quarter Apple also released its highly anticipated iPhone in June, a device which unites web, music, and Internet capabilities into one package.

Analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray said on Friday that iPhone revenue will not be material to Apple's results this time, but instead, the iPhone will have an even stronger halo effect than the iPod on [the] Macintosh's market share.

On Wednesday Apple's carrier partner AT&T reported that it had activated 146,000 iPhones during the last two days of its fiscal second-quarter. Some analysts had projected up to 500,000 units to be sold during the opening weekend of sales.

Munster called the results "a disappointing,' on Tuesday noting that the device probably sold 200,000 units in the quarter that ended in June.

Shares of Apple took a hit on the results, falling $3.91, or 2.72 percent, to $139.79.

The iPhone is expected to factor heavily into Apple's fourth quarter, which includes the lucrative back-to-school season. Analysts on average estimate the firm will reach $6.05 billion in revenue and earn 83 cents per share, according to Thompson Financial.

Wu believes the potential for the iPhone will have far-reaching effects, even beyond the fourth quarter.

Over the next 2-3 years, we believe AAPL has the potential to become a top selling 'smart' phone vendor, which could bring this category into the mainstream, just as it did with the iPod and portable media players, Wu stated.