Apple is set to release its third-quarter financial results after the close of trading on Thursday. Here's what you need to know.
PROFIT: The company is expected to report a profit of $27.79 billion, or $1.89 a share, according to analysts surveyed by FactSet. That compares with a profit of $23.43 billion, or $1.57 a share, a year earlier.
REVENUE: Analysts expect revenue to grow to $109.04 billion, up from $94.04 billion a year prior.
Shares in Apple were recently trading up 0.9%, at $342.99. The stock has risen 26% this year.
WHAT TO WATCH
--This will be Apple's first earnings report since it raised the prices of Macs and iPads in response to soaring costs for memory and storage chips. Though the price increases went into effect toward the end of Apple's quarter and are unlikely to have a major effect on the numbers, they underscore the cost pressures Apple is facing despite its reputation for supply-chain management.
--The component-cost pressures have prompted Apple to lobby the White House to let it use Chinese technology. The company recently agreed to buy $30 billion worth of U.S.-made chips from Broadcom, part of a $600 billion domestic investment pledge, and launched a partnership with Intel to produce domestic chips. But it is also pushing the Trump administration to let it use memory chips from two Chinese manufacturers currently considered Chinese military companies by the Defense Department, according to The Wall Street Journal. That effort has pitted the company against Micron Technology, a domestic memory-chip supplier which argues that loosening restrictions on Chinese technology could decimate the industry in the U.S., the Journal reported.
--The upcoming earnings release is also likely to be the last for Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, who will be succeeded by John Ternus on Sept. 1. Among Ternus's main tasks will be to oversee Apple's artificial-intelligence trajectory, beginning with the rollout of the new, Google Gemini-powered Siri AI this fall. As the company looks to deploy AI across its hardware, it is also poised for a legal battle with OpenAI over its own hardware ambitions. Apple alleged in a lawsuit this month that OpenAI and one of its top executives--former Apple employee Tang Tan--stole trade secrets to bring to the AI lab.
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