Driven by the new iPhone 14 / Pro, analysts say Apple shipped 51.1 million iPhone units in the September quarter.
CTOnews.com, October 20 (Xinhua)-- Morgan Stanley expects Apple's September quarterly results to exceed Wall Street expectations ahead of Apple's Q4 earnings call for fiscal 2022 on October 27, although the agency slightly lowered its target price for Apple shares.
In a note to investors, Morgan Stanley analysts were cautious about Apple's financial performance. However, they expect the company to report revenue growth.
Erik Woodring expects Apple's revenue for the September quarter to be $90.1 billion. The estimate is 2% higher than Wall Street's forecast of $88.4 billion and, if accurate, would break the record for the quarter.
As the year draws to a close, Woodring predicts Apple's revenue for the December quarter will reach $133.7 billion. It also exceeded Wall Street's expectations, averaging 4% higher.
CTOnews.com has learned that the combination of iPhone, iPad and Mac is likely to be the main driver of Apple's growth. As of October 18, delivery times for iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max reached 26.5 days.
Morgan Stanley expects iPhone shipments of 51.1 million units in the September quarter, with an average price of $838, which could generate $43 billion in iPhone revenue.
IPad revenue is expected to be the same as last year, at $8.3 billion, with about 16 million units shipped, while Mac revenue is likely to be $1.04 billion, up 14% from a year earlier. Mac shipments are expected to be 8 million units in the September quarter.
Analysts expect wearables to be + 7% quarter-on-quarter in September, but lower than the average seasonal income of + 15% over the past five years. The new Apple Watch Series 8, Apple Watch Ultra and AirPods Pro may not be enough to drive significant revenue growth.
Finally, Woodring predicts Apple's service revenue at $19.7 billion. It believes that these factors, coupled with Apple's 14-week quarter in December, will accelerate revenue growth in Apple's services business compared with the same period a year earlier.
Morgan Stanley has slightly lowered its target price for Apple AAPL shares to $177 from $180 in July 2022.
The decline in the performance of wearables and services may be the reason for the reduction in target prices. In addition, the note mentioned that App Store revenue fell by about 2% year-on-year, which Morgan Stanley attributed to the decline in gaming revenue.
