Riding a wave of red-hot iPhone sales and expanding market share, Apple is widely expected to shatter records when it reports its earnings for the first quarter of 2015 Tuesday.
The consensus from analysts is that Apple will log earnings per share of $2.59 on $67.5 billion in revenue, beating the company s own forecast of $63.5 to $66.5 billion in total sales. A group of analysts polled by Fortune expects Apple to climb even higher, reaching revenue of $68.3 billion, a 21 percent jump from the same time last year.
Brightened by a holiday glow, Apple s first quarter, which ends Dec. 27, is always its biggest — and this time it had supersize iPhones to share. The wild success of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus is analysts chief cause for optimism. With the gadgets, Apple at last answered the call for iPhones with larger screens, and consumers rushed to stores in response. The phones record sales gave Apple a boost last quarter, though they went on sale toward the end of the period. What s more, many consumers who wanted to buy the new phones when they first when they first debuted were unable to as Apple struggled to meet pent-up demand. The first quarter of 2015 is the first to reflect full availability of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, and Wall Street is expecting a rich payday.
Strong sales in Asia will likely be another bright spot for the company. A new report from Counterpoint Research found that sales of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus had pushed Apple s share of the smartphone market up to 51 percent in Japan, 33 percent in South Korea and 12 percent in China. Some analysts expect Apple to announce it sold more phones in China than in the U.S. for the first time last year, as the Financial Times reported.
Of course, the booming iPhone sales do have a dark lining. Sales of the iPad have been slumping for some time, and analysts will be watching to see whether the enlarged iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have further cannibalized tablet sales. When Apple CEO Tim Cook comes on the line, they ll also be listening closely for statistics about Apple Pay, the company s new mobile payments service, as well as hints about the Apple Watch, which is set to debut early this year.
Above: Apple CEO Tim Cook is expected to announce record earnings on Tuesday (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images).
