Apple Earnings Preview: How Are Sales? How Is Steve?
Apple (AAPL) reports its December quarter results this afternoon after the bell. We'll cover the report and conference call LIVE. Please join us beginning at 4 p.m. ET.
The two big questions on everyone's mind:
As for Apple's business, it seems the company will be able to meet tempered expectations for Christmas sales. Guidance for the calendar first quarter, however, will be critical, and last quarter the company shocked the market by how conservative it was.
Apple has three major product lines: Macs, iPods, and iPhones.
Macs: Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster's analysis of NPD Group retail data suggests that Apple's Mac sales will be in line with expectations, up slightly year-over-year.
iPods. Munster thinks iPod sales could be higher than expected, but still down year-over-year. We'd note that the expensive iPod touch seems to have had an excellent Christmas, suggesting that iPod revenue could be higher than expected.
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