Apple Q4 Earnings Put iPhone Sales in the Spotlight: Can Apple Keep Climbing to New All-Time Highs?
Apple Q4 Earnings Put iPhone Sales in the Spotlight: Can Apple Keep Climbing to New All-Time Highs?
- Apple (AAPL) to report Q4 results on Thursday, October 30.
- iPhone 17 sales are expected to impress versus iPhone 16 sales.
- Apple options show an expected move of +/- 8.92 points.
Apple to report Q4 earnings to assess iPhone 17 impact
Apple (AAPL) is scheduled to report fourth-quarter fiscal results on Thursday, October 30, after the market closes. Investors are anxious to see firm numbers on how iPhone 17 sales performed over the first 10 days of sales that occurred during the quarter from September 19 to September 30.
According to Counterpoint Research, the iPhone 17 series outpaced iPhone 16 series sales by 14% in the first 10 days they were available in the United States and China. Counterpoint also noted that the base iPhone 17 is performing very well in China due to its value offering for consumers.
Apple also released an updated Apple Watch lineup and AirPods Pro 3. However, those products bring in only a fraction of the revenue compared to iPhone sales, so the main focus for earnings will be on the numbers for the new iPhone lineup.
On Wednesday, Wamsi Mohan, Bank of America analyst, raised Apple’s price target to $320 from $270 while reiterating the bank’s buy rating on the stock. The bank also expects fourth-quarter sales of iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max models at 57 million units, which is above the consensus estimate of 54 million units.
Apple’s fast-growing services business, which includes Apple Pay, iCloud and AppleCare insurance, is expected to cross the $100 billion mark for the fiscal year when it reports Q4 results, according to Visible Alpha. The research firm sees services revenue for the year at $108.6 billion, marking a 13% increase from the prior year.
What do investors expect from Apple?
According to TradingView, Apple is expected to post earnings per share (EPS) of $1.78 on $102.23 billion in revenue. That would compare to a year ago when Apple reported EPS of $1.64 on $94.93 billion in revenue. Apple’s Q3 EPS came in at $1.57 on $94.04 billion in revenue.
In the preceding four quarters, Apple has managed to consistently beat EPS and revenue estimates. That said, traders would likely be disappointed if Apple misses the Street’s estimates.
Trading Apple earnings
Apple reached a fresh intraday all-time high on Wednesday at 271.41, just a day after the company became the third company ever to reach a $4 trillion market capitalization. Options on Apple show an expected move of +/- 8.92 points, or 3.3% of Wednesday’s 269.23 stock price. That is below the average 5% to 10% post-earnings move for S&P 500 companies.
Apple stock is in a very strong technical position having just achieved new all-time highs. It is trading above the 9- and 21-day exponential moving averages (EMAs), which could provide possible support on a near-term pullback if earnings disappoint.
Thomas Westwater, a tastylive financial writer and analyst, has eight years of markets and trading experience. @fxwestwater
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