Apple Inc (AAPL)

[fmikehugo]

14:50 AAPL Apple: Earnings Preview (94.85 +1.61) -Update-

Today after the close AAPL is scheduled to report Q2 results, with analysts expecting EPS of $0.63 on revs of $5.16 bln.

JMP expects in-line revenue with top line upside potentially coming from the Mac business and the iTunes business (gift cards from the holidays). For the past several quarters, the firm notes Apple has beaten gross margin forecasts, and EPS upside is likely to come from better-than-expected margins due to continued favorable component pricing, particularly N.A.N.D flash pricing, which continues to fall. The firm is forecasting rev of $5.0 bln and EPS of $0.59. Their gross margin est is 29.7%, and a 50 basis point out-performance would translate to $0.02 of upside...

Amtech believes Macs will likely come in towards the lower-end of expectations due to a pause ahead of Mac OS X Leopard's launch and anticipation of new 8-core Mac Pros. However, the firm says sales of iPods appear better than expected. They believe that following the likely launch of Leopard at its WWDC 2007 conference starting on June 11, Mac sales are positioned to resume accelerated growth. The firm says for the June quarter, AAPL will likely offer its usual conservative guidance. They are modeling $5.3 bln and $0.65 which compares to consensus ests of $5.5 bln and $0.68. Click here for technical levels of interest.