MacBook Refresh Could Spur Already Unseasonably High Mac Sales
The second quarter is typically one of Apple’s weakest for Mac sales. Not this year, though. According to the latest data from NPD, Mac sales are already up more than 20 percent year-over-year this quarter, and they’re likely to rise higher still thanks to Apple’s recent refresh of its MacBook Pro line.
Traditionally, Apple launches its new MacBook Pros in April, well into its third quarter. This year, it didn’t. It launched them in the second, and that’s where the resulting spike in sales will be reflected.
And if the company sells enough of them, we could see a nice little bump in its earnings-per-share for the period, says UBS analyst Maynard Um.
“The refresh comes with about 6 weeks remaining in what is typically Apple’s seasonally weakest Mac quarter of the year,” Um said in a note to clients. “However, AAPL’s last three MacBook Pro refreshes came in FYQ3, so the accelerated cycle could provide upside to our estimates for this quarter. Every incremental 100,000 portable Mac units would add ~$0.02 to EPS in FYQ2 assuming slightly lower gross margins.”