Earnings preview: Pent-up demand
Wall Street’s eyes are on Apple, which announces its latest quarterly earnings this Tuesday, April 23, at 2 p.m. Pacific, 5 p.m. Eastern. As always, Macworld will be on hand with live coverage of the announcement, along with the subsequent question-and-answer session with financial analysts.
While Apple’s status as one of the most valuable companies in the world means that its financial information is always scrutinized, this quarter may see even more attention than usual. The company’s stock price has declined precipitously over the last six months, from a high of over $700 to well under $400. The financial community will be waiting, breath held, to see if Apple will continue to buck their expectations.
Great and not-so-great expectations
Make no mistake, though: This is about the expectations game. The cause of the stock price drop can be laid squarely at the feet of rumors aplenty; there are whispers of everything from low demand for iPhones to cut component orders. And, of course, there’s the general lingering feeling in the minds of many analysts—rational or not—that Apple needs to deliver some new revolution in order to ensure continued success.
But is such a pessimistic outlook really warranted? During last quarter’s financials, CEO Tim Cook cautioned against reading too much into the company’s supply chain, describing it as “very complex” and saying that “it’s good to question the accuracy of any kind of rumor about build plans.”
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