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Apple ( AAPL ) investors will have two major reports to chew on next week: the company’s fiscal second-quarter earnings report and the annual revision to its capital return program. Both are expected to come out on Tuesday after the market close. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect Apple to earn $2 a share on sales of $51.97 billion in the March quarter. On a year-over-year basis, earnings per share are forecast to fall 14% with sales down 10%. It would mark the company’s first quarterly decline in EPS in nearly three years and first drop in sales since 2003. Apple’s iPhone is expected to post its first-ever unit sales decline year-over-year in fiscal Q2. For the current quarter, Wall Street is modeling Apple to earn $1.76 a share, down 5%, on sales of $47.32 billion, also down 5%. UBS analyst Steven Milunovich on Friday reiterated his buy rating on Apple with a price target of 120. His favorable opinion of Apple stock is based on positive expectations for the company’s upcoming iPhone 7, which is expected to launch in September. Milunovich expects iPhone unit sales to rise about 10% in fiscal 2017, which starts Sept. 24. “Even without killer new features, the iPhone 7 should prompt improved upgrade demand with more than 200 million iPhone users not having moved to a large screen,” he said in a research report. Meanwhile, Apple is poised to boost its quarterly dividend and share repurchases as part of its annual capital return program . Last year, Apple increased its quarterly dividend by 11% to 52 cents a share and raised its share repurchase authorization to $140 billion from the $90 billion level announced in 2014. Image provided by Shutterstock . RELATED: Apple iPhone Keeps Samsung At Bay In U.S. Smartphone Market Apple Outlook Cut As iPhone 7 Doesn’t Seem Like Must-Have Device Scalper1 News
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