Apple’s share price surges in anticipation of their results

Apple’s share price has moved through the 300 dollar mark as they approach the release of their financial results for the third quarter of 2010. Investors are hoping that this period will be just as lucrative as the previous quarters thanks to strong sales of Apple products, including the iPad tablet.

While Apple’s third quarter results will only be released next Monday, speculation about the imminent release of a new version of their OS has lead to their share price moving to a record high on Wednesday, breaking through the 300 dollar mark.

Analysts are anticipating record earnings of 19 billion dollars, although the company has put estimations at 18 billion dollars, which translates to earnings of 4.05 dollars per share. The company can almost be seen as the goose that laid the golden eggs, thanks to sales of their mobile products (iPhone, iPod, iPad) and investors are hoping that this will continue into the future.

The release of their financial results should provide a good indication about the continued success of the iPad, of which more than 3 million devices were shipped in the second quarter (with its release coming in the middle of this period).


Strong anticipation of the results
Having very few direct competitors in the sector, the tablet should put up solid sales figures, although the arrival of competing devices at the end of the year may change this. We will also find out if sales of the iPhone 4 have been impacted by "Antennagate" which lead to the group providing free cases to users to resolve the loss of cell signal when held in a certain way. Analysts are nevertheless anticipating sales volumes could be up to 11 million units.

A few weeks ago, Apple became the second largest company in the world on market capitalisation, passing large petroleum companies on their way to a market value of 275 billion dollars. Only ExxonMobil, valued at more than 300 billion dollars, is still ahead of them.