Wedbush: Apple (AAPL) Earnings a 'Gold Medal' Performance
Apple blew past its fiscal third-quarter results in what Wedbush's Dan Ives calls a "drop the mic" quarter, though AAPL stock hardly budged.
Apple (AAPL, $146.77) was meant to be one of the highlights of a jam-packed earnings calendar this week. And despite what Wednesday's sluggish response in AAPL stock might suggest, Tuesday evening's report didn't disappoint.
In fact, Apple delivered what Wedbush analyst Dan Ives called a “gold medal” performance. The highlights:
- Revenue of $81.4 billion (+36% year-over-year) topped expectations for $77 billion.
- Profits of $1.30 per share (+100%) were well ahead of a $1.05 per share estimate.
- Gross margins of 43.3% topped Wall Street’s 41.7% estimate.
- iPhone sales reached $39.6 billion to top estimates by roughly $5.5 billion.
- Services revenue of $17.5 billion easily topped expectations for $16.3 billion.
“We essentially view this quarter as the second half and the start of the back stretch of the 5G supercycle and a ‘drop the mic’ quarter for Apple,” says Ives. The analyst rates the stock at Outperform (equivalent of Buy) and has a $185.00 price target on the stock, implying 26% upside over the next 12 months. “The outlook was healthy and clearly cautioned with chip shortage comments, a prudent and smart approach heading into its next iPhone launch in September.”
Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free E-Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
"We believe this quarter is a great next step in driving this stock to a $3 trillion market cap over the next year as the Street further digests the numbers and pent-up demand story in Cupertino.”
AAPL stock was slightly lower in response, however, continuing a decent but hardly sterling year for shares. The stock is up 10% year-to-date, underperforming both the tech sector's 18% performance in 2021, as well as the S&P 500's 17% advance.
Ives highlights Asia’s role in the earnings beat, with China revenue up 58% year-over-year. The country will remain a key ingredient to Apple’s success going forward, he adds, estimating that it will be responsible for roughly 20% of iPhone upgrades over the next year, including when the iPhone 13 launches.
“Taking a step back, we believe based on our recent Asia supply chain checks that iPhone 13 demand will be similar/slightly stronger than iPhone 12 out of the gates which speaks to our thesis that this elongated "supercycle" will continue for Cupertino well into 2022,” he says.
Wall Street largely remains bullish on AAPL stock following the report. Among analysts surveyed by S&P Global Market Intelligence, 24 analysts call it a Strong Buy, another eight call it a Buy and seven say it's a Hold. Meanwhile, just one pro calls Apple a Sell, and two others deem it a Strong Sell.
To continue reading this article
please register for free
This is different from signing in to your print subscription
Why am I seeing this? Find out more here
Kyle Woodley is the Editor-in-Chief of WealthUp, a site dedicated to improving the personal finances and financial literacy of people of all ages. He also writes the weekly The Weekend Tea newsletter, which covers both news and analysis about spending, saving, investing, the economy and more.
Kyle was previously the Senior Investing Editor for Kiplinger.com, and the Managing Editor for InvestorPlace.com before that. His work has appeared in several outlets, including Yahoo! Finance, MSN Money, Barchart, The Globe & Mail and the Nasdaq. He also has appeared as a guest on Fox Business Network and Money Radio, among other shows and podcasts, and he has been quoted in several outlets, including MarketWatch, Vice and Univision. He is a proud graduate of The Ohio State University, where he earned a BA in journalism.
You can check out his thoughts on the markets (and more) at @KyleWoodley.
-
Stock Market Today: Nasdaq Soars Ahead of Tesla Earnings
The EV stock rose nearly 2% ahead of its highly anticipated Q1 earnings report, due after tonight's close.
By Karee Venema Published
-
GM Stock Accelerates After Earnings Beat
General Motors beat expectations for the first quarter and raised its outlook for the year. Here's what you need to know.
By Joey Solitro Published
-
Stock Market Today: Nasdaq Soars Ahead of Tesla Earnings
The EV stock rose nearly 2% ahead of its highly anticipated Q1 earnings report, due after tonight's close.
By Karee Venema Published
-
Stock Market Today: Markets Rebound Ahead of Big Week for Earnings
Equities rallied on easing geopolitical tensions, upcoming quarterly results.
By Dan Burrows Published
-
Stock Market Today: Nasdaq Spirals as Netflix Nosedives
A big earnings boom for credit card giant American Express helped the Dow notch another win.
By Karee Venema Published
-
Stock Market Today: S&P 500, Nasdaq Extend Losing Streaks
The two indexes have closed lower for five straight sessions.
By Karee Venema Published
-
Stock Market Today: Dow Slips After Travelers' Earnings Miss
The property and casualty insurer posted a bottom-line miss as catastrophe losses spiked.
By Karee Venema Published
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Stabilize After Powell's Rate-Cut Warning
The main indexes temporarily tumbled after Fed Chair Powell said interest rates could stay higher for longer.
By Karee Venema Published
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Reverse Lower as Treasury Yields Spike
A good-news-is-bad-news retail sales report lowered rate-cut expectations and caused government bond yields to surge.
By Karee Venema Last updated
-
Stock Market Today: Nasdaq Leads as Magnificent 7 Stocks Rise
Strength in several mega-cap tech and communication services stocks kept the main indexes higher Thursday.
By Karee Venema Published