Morningstar Analyst Expects Apple Earnings To Show 'Terrific Quarter, Record iPhone Sales'

Speaking to Benzinga, Morningstar Analyst Brian Colello said that all expectations are for a terrific quarter for Apple Inc. AAPL.

“Apple should break all sorts of iPhone sales records,” he said. “The big question is by how much. Expectations are extremely high.”

Colello also said that more than any other quarter, pricing will be something to watch for, adding that the company sold the iPhone 6+ for $100 more than the regular iPhone 6.

“Because of the way they tiered their memory, it seems likely that many customers upgraded to that middle tier of memory and bought the 64 gigabyte version instead of the entry-level 16 gigabytes,” he said.

Currency headwinds are also a risk that could offset some of the great underlying unit growth, according to Colello. He expects currently to be discussed on the conference call.

“It’s certainly possible that revenue won’t be as strong as it could have been due to the strong dollar,” he said. “We are more concerned with the underlying demand for the phone, itself.”

Colello pointed out that the Morningstar estimates are a little cautious relative to the Street expectations.

Shares of Apple are trading at $111.20.

Brianna Valleskey contributed to this report.