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Apple (AAPL+0.29%) is expected to release its fiscal first quarter results after the market closes on Thursday.
The company’s shares were up by 3.25% at the market close on Monday, while it reclaimed its title as the most valuable public company in the world from chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA-5.05%), which suffered from the global tech sell-off sparked by China’s DeepSeek.
The iPhone maker is expected to report revenues of $124.3 billion for the fiscal first quarter — an increase of more than 3% from the previous year, according to analysts’ estimates compiled by FactSet (FDS-1.19%). Apple is also expected to report earnings of $2.35 per share for the quarter ended in December, and net income of $35.6 billion.
Earlier this month, Jefferies (JEF-0.28%) analysts downgraded Apple’s rating to “Underperform,” citing expectations of a miss for both fiscal first quarter results and guidance. Apple’s iPhone 17 and 18 sales are expected to “be weak,” Jefferies said, “because there are limited hardware upgrades to drive adoption.”
The company rolled out its artificial intelligence features, Apple Intelligence, in October, which “has yet to gain traction with consumers,” Jefferies analysts said.
Following Asia supply chain checks, Jefferies said it is “cautious” over demand for Apple’s rumored iPhone SE 4, which it said is likely to launch toward the end of March. The rumored smartphone — part of the SE series of smaller iPhones — is expected to use an A18 chip that is also found in the iPhone 16, a full-screen OLED display, and have Apple Intelligence capabilities. However, the SE 4 is expected to have one rear camera, while the older iPhone 13 Pro and 14 Pro both have three cameras. This potentially makes them more attractive options, especially if they have a lower price tag, Jefferies said.
Shipments of the iPhone were also down by 4% year over year in the fiscal first quarter, Jefferies noted, citing data from the International Data Corporation. The firm cut iPhone shipment growth expectations.