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Apple Forecasted to Report First Quarterly Revenue Decline Since 2003

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Apple is set to announce its financial earnings results for the second quarter of the 2016 fiscal year at 1:30 p.m. Pacific, and the consensus among analysts is that the iPhone maker will report its first quarterly revenue decline in over a decade.

Wall Street analysts project that Apple will report revenue of around $52 billion, or nearly a 10-percent decline compared to the year-ago quarter. Today's earnings results are based on the three-month period between December 27, 2015 and March 26, 2016.

Apple itself projected quarterly revenue of between $50 and $53 billion, compared to $58 billion in the year-ago quarter, possibly signaling the end of over 50 consecutive quarters of year-over-year revenue growth dating back to 2003.

Tim Cook, CEO, already cautioned investors that iPhone sales will likely decline in the second fiscal quarter. That decline will be realized if Apple sells fewer than 61.2 million iPhones this quarter, which appears likely given most analysts expect sales to hover around the 50 to 51 million mark.

Apple-quarterly-revenue-2016.jpg
Apple's quarterly revenue between 2005 and 2016 (Source: Statista)​

iPhone SE sales will not be included in that total, as the lower-priced smartphone launched on March 31, five days after the quarter ended.

MacRumors will be providing live blog coverage of Apple's earnings conference call with CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri at 2:00 p.m. Pacific.

AAPL is trading slightly lower on the NASDAQ at around the $104 mark in pre-market trading ahead of today's announcement.

Article Link: Apple Forecasted to Report First Quarterly Revenue Decline Since 2003
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2016/04/26/apple-q2-2016-earnings-preview/
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Reactions: ogremoustro
Very good. Their last September event was incredibly lacklustre, and especially last March's event that mainly revolved around left overs. (Things that could've been released last year but weren't to avoid cannibalising their own products)

They need a drastic attitudinal shift.
 
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Good. Hopefully revenue decline might encourage them to update some of their products. Once they stop caring about squeezing as many profits from 16GB storage phones and aged tech in their computers, they might consider giving people a bit of value for money.

If they know they'll have revenue decline regardless of what they do, they might stop penny pinching.
 
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Reactions: al256, bliss1111, l0nd0n and 65 others
I feel that Tim Cook's time as caretaker CEO is done.

He's guided Apple to outstanding profits, but has not shown that he can take Apple to new heights in the long-term. The Apple Watch is not a worthy successor to the Mac, the iPhone and the iPad, in my opinion.

In the five years that he has been CEO, he has never shown the passion for Apple products that Steve Jobs did. As a result, the public has become less enthusiastic also.

Finally, the area that Apple most needs attention is services. Eddy Cue is not the right man to lead this area, to put it mildly. Apple needs a major culture change to instil the right ethos for making high quality services. It goes against their traditional culture in a fundamental way, and requires strong leadership to overcome resistance in Apple. Tim Cook is not able to give this leadership, nor does he have the headhunting chops to find the right person; he is too nice, and doesn't have the sharpness in this field.

It's time for new blood.
 
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spiderman0616 said:
Apple is a victim of its own success. The iPhone 6/6 Plus in 2014 filled a lot of pent up demand. It's not just a tough compare, it's an impossible compare. Wall Street and bloggers alike are interpretting this as the end for the iPhone. That couldn't be further from the truth.
Click to expand...

Exactly right. Apple will probably never see the success of the iPhone 6 that fueled the growth of revenue.

It is still a very profitable company.
 
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keysofanxiety said:
Good. Maybe revenue decline might encourage them to update some of their products. Once they stop caring about squeezing as many profits from 16GB storage phones and aged tech in their computers, they might consider giving people a bit of value for money.
Click to expand...
This decline has nothing to do with anything you just said.
[doublepost=1461675021][/doublepost]
Benjamin Frost said:
I feel that Tim Cook's time as caretaker CEO is done.

He's guided Apple to outstanding profits, but has not shown that he can take Apple to new heights in the long-term. The Apple Watch is not a worthy successor to the Mac, the iPhone and the iPad, in my opinion.

It's time for new blood.
Click to expand...
This decline would have happened even if Steve Jobs were still alive and running Apple. No product can grow forever.
 
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keysofanxiety said:
Good. Hopefully revenue decline might encourage them to update some of their products. Once they stop caring about squeezing as many profits from 16GB storage phones and aged tech in their computers, they might consider giving people a bit of value for money.

If they know they'll have revenue decline regardless of what they do, they might stop penny pinching.
Click to expand...

So your solution for their revenue decline is... Reduce profits ;)
That said, yes, as people who Apple doesn't share money with, we'd love a more powerful product for any given price.
 
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spiderman0616 said:
This decline has nothing to do with anything you just said.
[doublepost=1461675021][/doublepost]
This decline would have happened even if Steve Jobs were still alive and running Apple. No product can grow forever.
Click to expand...
This kind of topic is like a blank canvas for people. This decline is caused by whatever someone dislikes about Apple the most. You're going to see several different reasons in this thread, very few of them based in reality. All of the reasons will completely ignore the fact that this was going to eventually happen no matter what Apple did.
 
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keysofanxiety said:
Never said it did. I'm just hoping that if their fetish to build up as much money as possible with ludicrous profit margins doesn't work out, they might stop caring about chasing the cash dragon and pull out their finger with updating hardware.
Click to expand...
You posting that opinion in this particular topic implies that you think that's the reason for this decline. Tim Cook has been quoted as saying something along the lines of "We've experienced decline before and we innovated through it." That's all I really need to hear the leader of Apple say.
 
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Reactions: peterdevries, bpeeps, igorsky and 1 other person
Before we start hearing "Apple makes 20 billion profit and Its stock goes down" posts, remember that Apples Stock is traded on potential. The current price is already priced such that Apple expects XYZ to happen. Thats why when they dont meet expectations Wall Street downgrades them. It doesnt mean the company didnt make a lot of money.
 
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blackcrayon said:
So your solution for their revenue decline is... Reduce profits ;)
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm a little naive, where I think a better product would sell more as a result, and evens itself out. I appreciate that isn't always the case. Regardless, how much is too much when it comes to quarterly profits and offshore money? It seems a bitter irony that the more money they make, the more they tighten their grip. Companies with money just seem to want more money.

Possibly it's just the way they carry themselves which irks me. I don't feel particularly offended if HP cut corners to maximise profits. But then HP don't have a deified self-claim that they're changing the world for the better -- the CEO asking himself every day, "what would MLK do" -- it's a laughably, savagely pretentious attitude.
 
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spiderman0616 said:
This decline has nothing to do with anything you just said.
[doublepost=1461675021][/doublepost]
This decline would have happened even if Steve Jobs were still alive and running Apple. No product can grow forever.
Click to expand...
Don't you see that the OP wants to be first in line to replace Tim with his never ending wisdom and strategic outlook.
 
This kind of financial growth is not sustainable. And unheard of. I can't think of any other company that can state that they have had year on year quarterly growth every quarter for 13 straight years. It's ridiculous. It had to come to an end at some point. It should not be seen as a negative point for Apple stock, but it will.
 
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