Apple investors brace for more bad news in latest results

“Apple investors are braced for more bad news when the tech giant reports its latest results on Tuesday, with analysts warning that the abrupt drop-off in iPhone sales at the end of last year could continue throughout 2019,” Tim Bradshaw reports for Financial Times. “Shares in Apple plunged in early January when chief executive Tim Cook said that revenues in the three months to December, typically its most lucrative quarter, were likely to fall by as much as 5 per cent.”
“Many analysts remain concerned that Apple’s iPhone woes were not confined to the previous quarter and that its struggles in China go beyond macroeconomic conditions,” Bradshaw reports. “‘This isn’t a one-off thing. I think this is a potentially year-long problem, if not longer,’ said Ben Bajarin, analyst at Creative Strategies. ‘We don’t know where the bottom is yet [for iPhone sales].'”
“While Apple has already detailed the problems in its fiscal first quarter, Tuesday’s earnings report will be the first time it has provided any guidance on the rest of the year,” Bradshaw reports. “Analysts at Morgan Stanley, however, maintain that Apple’s share price already reflects an “extremely cautious” outlook for iPhone sales. The stock could rise further if Apple guides to March-quarter revenues of more than $58bn, Morgan Stanley said in a note to clients on Friday.”
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MacDailyNews Take: As always, Apple’s guidance will be critical (although, investors would be right to be skeptical given Apple’s failure to even come close to their last revenue guidance figures).