25 1 / 2012
Wowed Wall Street watchers raise forecasts after Apple's 'perfect' $46B quarter
“The perfect quarter,” in Marshall’s eyes, was due to the fact that the iPhone and iPad generated about 85 percent of Apple’s total gross profits. This helped the company beat its revenue guidance by about $9.3 billion and earnings per share guidance by $4.60.
“With minimal ‘real’ competitive threats to AAPL’s major product families in (calendar year 2012), we believe the outlook for the next 4 quarters can be characterized as ‘smooth sailing,’” Marshall wrote. “In our view, if something were to go wrong with the story, it would most likely result from idiosyncratic mis-execution on the part of AAPL or a material change in support from the global carrier community.”
But Marshall said that’s unlikely given Apple’s historical track record. He expects an iPad 3 launch in March and a sixth-generation iPhone to arrive in the September-October timeframe to go smoothly.
