Shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) have soared nearly 37% over the last year, but within the last four weeks, the tech power’s stock price has dipped more than 3% as its fiscal first-quarter earnings report approaches.
Some investors have grown nervous ahead of Apple’s Q1 announcement, scheduled for Thursday afternoon, thanks to reports that sales of the highly-anticipated iPhone X have failed to live up to Wall Street expectations.
With Apple becoming increasingly dependent on the iPhone in recent years, Apple’s Q1 report might garner even more attention than the tech giant normally grabs. Still, despite the possibility of disappointing iPhone sales, Apple is projected to see its Q1 earnings pop by 13.7% from the year-ago period to reach $3.82 per share, based on our current Zacks Consensus Estimates.
Aside from this bottom-line expansion projection, Apple is expected to see its quarterly sales reach $86.02 billion, which would mark 9.8% year-over-year growth.
But as most investors know, there are other more important metrics to pay attention to on top of earnings and revenue figures. And in the case of Apple, investors will want to take a look at the company’s Services unit, which could prove highly important if iPhone X sales don’t meet estimates.
Luckily we can turn to our exclusive non-financial metrics consensus estimate file to give investors a better understanding of how Apple’s Services revenues, which includes Apple Music, might perform on Thursday.
The Zacks Consensus NFM file contains detailed estimate data for business segment metrics and non-financial metrics reported by companies. The data is acquired from digest and contributing broker models and includes the independent research of expert stock market analysts.
Apple’s Services business is made up of segments such as iTunes, Apple Music, AppleCare, Apple Pay, and licensing. In the year-ago period, Apple posted Services revenues of $7.172 billion. Our most recent consensus estimates call for these sales to jump by roughly 20.6% year-over-year to reach $8.649 billion.
In the fourth quarter of 2017, Apple posted $8.501 billion in Services revenues, which topped our consensus estimates for this category by nearly $1 billion. Apple’s strong Q4 for its Services business represented a 34.4% year-over-year climb and marked the unit’s most successful quarter to date. If our estimate for Q1 holds up, it will be another quarterly record for Apple’s Services unit.
For more estimates ahead of Apple’s Q1 report, check out our full guide: 3 Key Estimates for Apple's Q1 Earnings Report.
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Apple Inc. (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report
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