Earnings Smackdown

How many iPhones did Apple sell last quarter?

The forecasts range from 32.5 million to 42.5 million. Median estimate: 37 million.

FORTUNE -- iPhone sales were the big surprise this time last year.

Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T) had just turned in disappointing activation numbers and the talking heads on CNBC were predicting that Apple (AAPL) would totally miss its revenue and earnings targets -- forgetting, apparently, that most iPhone sales take place overseas.

When Apple reported last April that it MORE

Apple scheduled to release Q2 2013 results Tuesday, April 23

The conference call with analysts begins at 5 p.m. Eastern (2 p.m. Pacific).

FORTUNE -- There should, in theory, be fewer surprises than usual three weeks from now when Apple (AAPL) releases the results of its second fiscal quarter of 2013.

In January the company changed the way it gives analysts guidance, replacing the "conservative" estimates of the past indicating what it had reasonable confidence of achieving with a range that reflects its MORE

The best and worst Apple analysts: Nine-quarter edition

Wall Street makes a comeback

FORTUNE -- As long-time readers of this blog know, we've been running for more than four years a friendly competition we call the Apple Earnings Smackdown.

Here's how it works: Each quarter, in advance of Apple's (AAPL) earnings report, we gather estimates from every analyst we can reach -- both Wall Street professionals and a collection of (mostly amateur) independents.

What made the exercise particularly interesting -- at MORE

Apple burned by analysts' overheated expectations

Ranking the best and worst Apple analysts for fiscal Q1 2013

FORTUNE (Koh Ngai, Thailand) -- As evidenced by Apple's (AAPL) sickening $55.5 (10.8%) drop in after-hour trading Wednesday, the analysts who cover the company -- both on and off Wall Street -- aren't doing it any favors.

The company didn't have a bad quarter. In fact, it posted its best quarter ever with earnings per share of $13.81 on sales of MORE

Handicapping Apple's quarterly earnings and revenue: Q1 2013

If Apple is about to report its best ever quarter, why does the stock keep falling?

FORTUNE (Hanoi) -- It's hard to reconcile the steep downward slope of the small chart above with the upward thrust of the two larger charts at right.

The first shows Apple's (AAPL) share price falling 27% since the close of the company's last fiscal quarter.

The second two charts show the consensus of the 67 analysts we MORE

How many Macs did Apple sell last quarter?

The analysts' forecasts range from 4.45 million to 6.5 million. Median estimate: 5.2 million

FORTUNE (Vientiane, Laos) -- At first glance, the chart at right looks pretty dismal. It suggests that Wall Street expects Christmas quarter sales of the Mac to grow less year over year than any year in memory, and that our sample of independent analysts -- generally more bullish than the professionals -- expect year over year unit MORE

How many iPads did Apple sell last quarter?

The analysts' forecasts range from 17 million to 32 million. Median estimate: 24 million

FORTUNE (Vang Vieng, Laos) -- Sales of Apple's (AAPL) iPad grew from zero to 7.3 million units in 2010 and doubled in 2011 to 15.4 million.

According to our most bullish independent analysts, they doubled again in calendar 2012.

According to the most bearish professional -- Argus Research's Jim Kelleher -- they grew (once you factor out 2011's extra MORE

How many iPhones did Apple sell last quarter?

The analysts' forecasts range from 43 million to 63 million. Median estimate:  49.5 million

FORTUNE (Luang Prabang, Laos) -- A year ago, Apple (AAPL) blew past all expectations by reporting sales of 37 million iPhones in the Christmas quarter, 128% more than the year before and a cool 10 million units better than the median analyst's estimate.

That's what analysts call a tough compare.

Nobody expects a repeat of that kind of surprise MORE

This blogger is off to Bangkok

Also northern Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia

FORTUNE -- Starting New Years Eve, I'm going to be on a four-week walkabout in parts of the world where Internet access is often sketchy. So except for gathering and sorting analysts estimates, this blogger will be on vacation.

By the time Apple (AAPL) releases the results of its first fiscal quarter of 2013  -- the Christmas quarter that ended  Saturday -- I expect to be MORE

Apple's Q4: Michael Walkley called it; the indies miss again

For the third time in five quarters, the professional analysts outgunned the amateurs

FORTUNE -- It was a great story while it lasted.

For nearly three years the professional sell-side analysts who cover Apple (AAPL) for the big banks and brokerage houses got clobbered every quarter by a motley group of amateurs -- bloggers, day traders and individual investors who bet on Apple to beat the Street's consensus and hadn't been wrong MORE