Apple Q3 Results: An Expectation Problem, Not A Numbers Problem

Shares of tech major Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) fell sharply on Wednesday on back of the mixed quarterly results the company reported post market close on Tuesday.

Chris Caso, Susquehanna Financial, was on CNBC recently to discuss if Apple's numbers were as bad as market participants have made it out to be.

An Expectation Problem

"The expectations were obviously very high going into the report," Caso began. "And the way I characterize it, this was an expectations problem, not a problem with the numbers themselves. The analysts got it wrong.

"And, I think right now, this is the quarter in between iPhone launches, right? You are at the tail end of the iPhone 6 cycle and, I think, since February when the stock peaked the question has been, 'Is this as good as it gets?' I mean, there is a fantastic iPhone 6 cycle, and can they grow from here?"

Related Link: Tim Cook: We Sold More iPhone Units Than Expected (To The Tune Of $31 Billion)

Growth In Emerging Markets

On existing iPhone users upgrading to iPhone 6 and the growth in emerging markets, Caso commented, "Well, one of the important things they brought up on the call yesterday is that only 27 percent of the existing iPhone users have upgraded to iPhone 6. So, that's still a pretty big base of users that haven't upgraded yet. You also saw emerging market growth; it was up 89 percent year-on-year."

Caso also added, "With the regard to emerging markets. I mean, I think the growth there has been much better than anyone would have thought. And remember, go back a year ago, a year and a half ago, the talk was Apple needs to come in with a lower price phone in order to sell in China; China more than doubled year-on-year."

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