FORTUNE — One thing that jumps out at you when you’re looking at a lot of Apple (AAPL) analysts’ estimates — as I have been for the past couple of weeks — are those large, last-minute adjustments.
Sell-side analysts will often offer their clients one set of estimates a few weeks into the quarter and a second shortly before the results are due. When the change is more than billion dollars — up or down — it’s a pretty strong signal one way or the other.
Two of those billion dollar-plus signals came in last week, just a few days before Apple was scheduled to report its earnings for the fiscal first quarter of 2014.
- Goldman Sachs’ Bill Shope upped his revenue estimate by $1.26 billion (2.2%)
- Credit Suisse’s Kulbinder Garcha raised his $2.73 billion (4.8%).
Both analysts attributed their new, more bullish attitude to what they’re picking up about iPhone and iPad sales over the holiday quarter. As Shope put it:
“Our upward revisions for the December quarter are largely driven by better-than-expected mix for both iPhones (5s versus 5c) and iPad (air versus mini), and our increased confidence in the March quarter is largely driven by the China Mobile iPhone launch on January 17.”
Coming soon: The full spreadsheet of Q1 2014 estimates. We’ll get the actual results Monday after the markets close.
