How big was Apple’s second quarter?

The fourth in a series of previews of Apple’s results for fiscal Q2 2010

Source: Company reports; Thomson Financial consensus est.

Over the past week we’ve sampled analysts’ expectation for Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone, Mac and iPod sales over the fiscal quarter that ended March 27.

Today we look at the bottom line — revenue and earnings per share — for what should be the company’s best second quarter ever, especially given how depressed the computer market was in the winter of 2009.

This exercise is simpler than in past quarters because Apple revised its accounting procedures in January to report most of its iPhone revenue as it is received, rather than spreading it out over 24 months. That effectively closed the distance between the GAAP and non-GAAP numbers that had caused so many analysts to underestimate Apple’s real performance over the past couple years. (See The day Apple released its iPhone revenue bomb.)

The Street’s consensus, as recorded by Thomson Financial, has Apple’s revenue and earnings up year over year 32.4% and 35.75%, respectively .

The most bullish estimate, submitted by Financial Alchemist’s Turley Muller, an independent with a enviable track record, has revenue up 41.7% and earnings up nearly 57% over the same period. (Even the most bearish, from Think Equity’s Vijay Rakesh, has them up 23.3% and 7.8%, respectively.) See below.

Analyst, affiliation	Revenue (billions)	EPS	Date of est.
Turley Muller, Financial Alchemist	12.87	2.81	4/12/10
Robert Paul Leitao, Apple Finance Board	12.81	2.80	4/12/10
Toni Sacconaghi, Bernstein Research	12.60	2.59	4/14/10
Mike Abramsky, RBC Capital	12.60	2.53	4/16/10
Daniel Tello, Deagol’s AAPL Model	12.59	2.77	4/12/10
Patrick Smellie, Apple Finance Board	12.52	2.77	4/12/10
Ashok Kumar, Rodman & Renshaw	12.50	2.65	4/13/10
Ben Reitzes, Barclay’s Capital	12.43	2.48	4/8/10
Yair Reiner, Oppenheimer	12.41	2.54	4/15/10
Chris Whitmore, Deutsche Bank	12.38	2.50	4/5/10
Mark Moskowitz, J.P. Morgan	12.32	2.53	4/12/10
Alexis Cabot, Apple Finance Board	12.30	2.60	4/12/10
Jeff Fidacaro, Susquehanna Financial	12.28	2.54	4/8/10
Bill Shope, Credit Suisse	12.26	2.57	4/8/10
Scott Craig, Merrill Lynch	12.20	2.55	3/5/10
Gene Munster, Piper Jaffray	12.15	2.45	4/14/10
Kathryn Huberty, Morgan Stanley	12.04	2.40	4/12/10
Peter Misek, Canaccord Adams	12.00	2.42	4/9/10
Brian Marshall, Broadpoint AmTech	11.83	2.41	4/11/10
Samuel Wilson, JMP Securities	11.80	2.38	4/9/10
Keith Bachman, BMO Capital	11.77	2.39	3/25/10
Doug Reid, Thomas Weisel	11.76	2.39	4/12/10
Nehal Chokshi, Technology Insights	11.70	2.28	1/21/10
Tavis McCourt, Morgan Keegan	11.67	2.36	4/5/10
Shaw Wu, Kauffman Bros.	11.57	2.31	4/9/10
Richard Gardner, Citigroup	11.40	2.39	4/12/10
Vijay Rakesh, Think Equity	11.20	1.93	4/9/10

. . .

We’ll find out whose numbers were closest to the mark next week when Apple reports its Q2 results. Tune in here after the markets close on Tuesday April 20 for our report on Apple’s earnings and coverage of its conference call with analysts, which begins at 5 p.m. EDT (2 p.m. PDT).