Apple’s Q3 financials seem to have been well-received, with AAPL stock sitting at $158 in pre-market trading at the time of writing – up more than 5% on yesterday’s close. The company reported revenue of $45.4b and sales of 41m iPhones, 11.4m iPads and 4.29m Macs.
Most analysts also seem pleased, with Macquarie describing the earnings call as “one of its most bullish in recent memory” – even if Barclays did sound a sour note …
Business Insider has a round-up of analyst takes, with Macquarie noting growth across categories and expressing optimism about the prospects for AR.
William Blair wasn’t deterred by current poor performance in China, focusing on the trends rather than the history, and also seeing AR as a key selling-point.
We also think it is important to note AAPL and Tim Cook’s clear excitement about the potential for AR. We expect that in addition to being a key marketing and functional driver of iPhone hardware, AR is going to be directly monetized via the App Store. As Cook stated on the call, we “couldn’t be more excited about AR”, and despite our WAY too early call on VR, we think AR will have some important near- term and many significant long-term implications for Apple and others.
Morgan Stanley said that future prospects for the iPhone were likely to live up to expectations, and also believes the company to be well-placed in all its product lines.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and Citi are all bullish. While cautions were noted – with particular emphasis on the saturated smartphone market – Barclays was the only one to express significant skepticism about the company’s prospects.
AAPL is set to open at an all-time high later this morning.
Photo: Reuters/Robert Galbraith
