Apple Earnings Preview (AAPL)

Apple Inc. AAPL is set to report first quarter earnings today after the bell, and analysts are expecting a huge first quarter from the hardware maker. Wall Street expects first quarter earnings of $5.38 per share on $24.38 billion in revenues. Rodman & Renshaw, a boutique Wall Street firm, expects 6-7 million iPads being shipped this quarter, and 16 million iPhones. The investment bank expects 4.2 million Macs being sold, largely due to the refresh of the MacBook Air. Stifel Nicolaus expects strong results from Apple, and sees the potential for 20-30 cents worth of upside in earnings this quarter.