Dan Frommer of Business Insider
Apple threw us a curveball today: The company reported results in GAAP format, reflecting an accounting change that means they no longer have to distribute iPhone revenue and earnings over 24 months.
Unfortunately, that means Apple’s GAAP results don’t match up with non-GAAP estimates.
As expected, the Mac had a monster quarter. Apple reported 3.36 million Mac shipments, higher than the Street expected. But the iPhone was relatively weak: Apple only shipped 8.7 million iPhones, lower than the 9.1 million Street consensus.
Steve Jobs also touted the Apple tablet in the earnings release: “The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we’re really excited about.”
Shares were halted pending the news — the change of accounting — and are supposed to resume at 4:55 p.m. ET.
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Key stats:
- GAAP Revenue: $15.7 billion
- GAAP EPS: $3.67
- Macs: 3.4 million vs. 3.0 million consensus
- iPhones: 8.7 million vs. 9.1 million consensus
- iPod: 21 million vs. 21.0 million consensus
- Gross margin: 40.9%
- Guidance (Rev.): $11.0 billion to $11.4 billion
- Guidance (EPS): $2.06 to $2.18
Preview: While investors will obviously be paying attention to the company’s iPhone and Mac numbers, they’re also going to be eagerly listening for clues about Apple’s next gadget: A tablet computer, expected to be unveiled Wednesday at an event in San Francisco.
Today, Apple’s execs will be predictably tight lipped about the product or any features, and could be completely mute, dismissing any questions about the tablet as “rumors.” But it’s possible we’ll be able to read between the lines for information about when a new product might go on sale, how it might impact short- and long-term revenues and gross margins, etc.
Meanwhile, the Street is expecting another blowout Christmas quarter and already knows Apple offers “comically conservative” guidance. But any show of weakness last quarter — or especially low guidance — could hurt the stock, because everyone is expecting a slam dunk.
But by the end of the week, we expect more activity around the prospects that a tablet computer could lead analysts to raise long-term estimates (and by how much).
Bonus: 20 guesses about what the Apple tablet will look like >
