Earnings calls from Verizon and AT&T are in, and both spell potentially “bad” news for Apple. While the iPhone continues to outsell all other smartphones combined on these networks, the number of iPhones sold in the quarter after Apple’s record-breaking Q1 fell below analyst expectations. Analysts expected Apple to sell 32 million iPhones in the quarter, including 6 million on AT&T and 4 million on Verizon. Actual AT&T and Verizon sales were 4.3 million (AT&T) and 3.2 million (Verizon).
We all know what happens when analysts aren’t happy with a company’s results: Wall Street panics, and that company’s stock goes down for a while. Apple’s stock has dropped just over 10% from record highs, from nearly $644 per share down to $563.40 at current writing (as of 9:39 am CST).
Apple will post its own earnings report after markets close this afternoon. It is expected that the quarter will be a rare miss for the Cupertino company, and sales of the iPhone will likely fall short of the 32 million expectation, with analysts now expecting Q1 sales in the 28-30 million range, which is still a heck of a lot of phone sales by any standard. Apple will also report iPad sales this afternoon, which will likely show significant sales following the launch of the new iPad in mid-March. Apple sold over 3 million iPads on launch weekend alone, and likely had over 10 million iPad sales in the quarter.
We’ll be tuned in to Apple’s earnings call later this afternoon, and will watch the stock price closely over the next few days. We fully expect Apple’s stock to trade above $600 again fairly soon as Apple seeks to become the first $1 trillion company.
[via BGR]