Apple to have negative income growth for the first time since 2003
Every single analyst that took part in the survey believes Apple will report a lower income for Q2, 2013 (ending in March – the company has a shifted fiscal year) compared to the same period last year. Analyst company Thomson Financial estimates Apple’s earnings per share (EPS) for the fiscal second quarter will stand at $10.18, compared to $12.30 in Q2 2012. However, investors needn’t worry as Apple is hardly going down. The company has said in its quarterly guidance it expects its quarter revenue to be between $41 and $43 billion. What analysts are on about is something called “gross margins” or how efficiently a company transforms revenue into profits. Apple’s gross margin for last year was at its highest ever at 47.37%, while this year the company is projecting it to be down nearly 10 percent points to 37.5%. It’s this indicator that has affected the net income projections. The charts below, made by Apple analyst Robert Paul Leitao of Braeburn Group , give...