Setting the Stage for Apple’s FY3Q23 Earnings

Apple reports FY3Q23 earnings (results from April to June) later this week. Today’s update includes Neil’s big picture thoughts heading into Apple’s earnings.

Happy Monday.

Apple reports earnings on Thursday. For those of you who may be new to Above Avalon membership, I wanted to quickly discuss the typical game plan for Apple earnings coverage.

Prior to Apple’s earnings release, we go over my expectations for what will be announced. These expectations cover both qualitative and quantitative items. Expectations are important given the role they play in adding context to a company’s results. My Apple earnings previews typically extend across two, possibly three, updates.

Once Apple reports earnings, we will then go over everything there is to say about the release, the earnings conference call, and even the 10-Q or 10-K. By the end of the process, we have a comprehensive overview of both Apple’s results for the prior three months and analysis of guidance for the current quarter.

Today, we will kick off my Apple earnings preview with an overview of the setup heading into Thursday’s release.

Setting the Stage for Apple’s FY3Q23 Earnings

Over the next few months, the setup is becoming more positive for Apple’s financial results. My expectation is that when Apple reports earnings on Thursday, we will begin to see and hear the early signs of this improvement. Apple’s guidance for FY4Q23 could still point to the business facing macro pressures, but that would then clear the deck in a way for an all-around better FY2024.

There are three factors behind this “improvement on the horizon” theme:

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Apple Year in Review 2022 (Financial Strategy) - Daily Update

Hello everyone.

Happy Tuesday.

Reports. A new Above Avalon Report will be published on Thursday – December 22nd. Keep an eye out for it in your email inbox. Those with the podcast add-on will see the new episode appear in your podcast players shortly thereafter.

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Let’s jump into today’s update.

Apple Year in Review 2022 (Financial Strategy)

For Apple, one way of recapping the past 12 months is to look at the company from two perspectives: products and financials. In yesterday’s update, we looked at Apple's product strategy. Today, we will look at Apple's financials.

(For today’s discussion, we will look at FY numbers, which reflect September 2021 to September 2022 trends. If there are significant differences between FY22 and CY22 results, additional mention will be made.)

Due to the pandemic and the resulting impact on shipping logistics, supply chains, and component availability, it’s been a few years since we had a clean look at Apple’s growth fundamentals. Strong revenue growth in 2021 (33%) as a result of an easy year-over-year contributed to slowing revenue growth across the board in 2022 (8%). Backing out FX impact, Apple would have seen double-digit revenue growth.

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Previewing Apple’s 4Q22 Earnings, My Apple 4Q22 Estimates, Apple Raises Apple Music and Apple TV+ Pricing (Daily Update)

Happy Tuesday.

We will go over my updated Apple earnings model tomorrow. It's not quite ready for publication. As a reminder, with Apple reporting earnings on Thursday, here is the daily update schedule for the rest of the week:

  • Wednesday: Regular update

  • Thursday: No update

  • Friday: Special Friday update dedicated to reviewing Apple earnings

Previewing Apple’s 4Q22 Earnings

My expectation is for Apple to report OK results on Thursday. While FX, inflation, and ongoing supply chain issues will negatively impact numbers, Apple should be able to comfortably exceed the all-time FY4Q revenue record ($83B is the current record).

FY4Q presents a few challenges for Apple financial modeling and earnings analysis as results reflect demand and supply trends 1) leading up to the critical September product launches and 2) a portion of the product launches themselves. For Apple, those two periods can end up representing distinct demand environments.

An Above Avalon membership is required to continue reading this update. Members can read the full update here. An audio version of this update is available to members who have the podcast add-on attached to their membership. More information about the podcast add-on is found here.

(Members: Daily Updates are always accessible by logging into Slack. If you haven’t logged into Slack before, fill out this form to receive an invite.)

Above Avalon Membership

Payment is processed and secured by Stripe. Apple Pay and other mobile payment options are accepted. Special Inside Orchard bundle pricing is available for Above Avalon members.

The daily updates have become widely read and influential in the world of Apple and technology. They are unmatched in the marketplace in terms of comprehensive analysis and research on all things Apple. Members reside in 60 countries and hold a diverse range of backgrounds and occupations. They include Silicon Valley executives and investors, the largest Apple shareholders, and the leading Apple journalists in the business.

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Above Avalon Podcast Episode 172: Hidden Acceleration

Apple’s underlying ecosystem strength has been gaining momentum for years - it’s just been masked by people holding on to their iPhones for longer before upgrading. In episode 172, Neil quantifies how much Apple’s ecosystem is growing. Additional topics include the problem found with using overall revenue trends to analyze Apple growth, the Apple Services myth, and why non-iPhone revenue growth matters so much.

To listen to episode 172, go here. 

The complete Above Avalon podcast episode archive is available here.