Welcome one and all for TUAW's coverage of Apple's First Quarter 2009 Results Conference Call. If you haven't already, you can go start the audio stream available on Apple's website. You'll need QuickTime 6 or 7 installed (Mac users should already have it, and Windows users get it with the iTunes install).

Update: The call has ended. AAPL is up over seven points in after-hours trading.

Click on through to view the transcript!

Citi analyst Richard Gardner repeated the firm's "buy" recommendation for Apple stock, but reduced his estimate through 2011 to "reflect a more conservative view of consumer spending," according to the Associated Press.

Gardner reduced his 12-month price target to $132 from $153. He noted "soft" iPhone shipments in the last quarter of 2008 and conservative guidance for the first quarter of 2009 as reasons behind the cut.

"We view weakness as a buying opportunity," Gardner said. If Apple's stock were to drop by $7 or $8 before the company's Q1 2009 conference call on January 21, "[Citi] would be aggressive buyers." He expects the company will announce a profit of $1.42 per share for Q4 2008 during the call.

AAPL was down by about $1.45 in afternoon trading.

[Via Mac Observer.]

Mark your calendars: Apple plans to conduct its first-quarter conference call on Wednesday, January 21 at 5 p.m. Eastern (2 p.m. Pacific). Apple executives will discuss the company's financial performance over the last quarter, and give their guidance as to how the next quarter is shaping up.

Audio from the conference call will be broadcast via QuickTime. When the time comes, you can visit this page and listen in. (Bonus: Check out the old QuickTime Player screenshot in the "Q1-2009" graphic.)

In Apple's last conference call, CEO Steve Jobs joined in the fun -- a rarity -- to discuss sales, margins, cash reserves, and Apple's competition.

Prepare for plenty of hyperbole and chipper "forward-looking statements" -- as well as dialtone to dialtone coverage from us here at TUAW. Be sure to check back on the 21st.

[Via MacDailyNews.]

Apple shares were higher by over 11 points in after-hours trading following a very positive Q4 conference call where the company announced a profit of $1.26 per diluted share.

As we noted in our liveblog earlier, Apple posted a profit of $1.14 billion on revenues of $7.9 billion for the quarter. The company also said it had sold 2.6 million Macs, 11 million iPods, and 6.8 million iPhones in the three months ending September 27. It's safe to say we're past the 10 million mark for iPhone unit sales.

Apple's margins for the quarter fell by a tenth of a percent from Q3 to 34.7 percent. During the Q3 conference call, Apple was careful to mention that margins would be lower for the quarter due to a new product announcement. That guidance was out of an abundance of caution, and executives noted that all new product announcements related to that margin guidance have been made. Apple's margins this time a year ago were 1.1 percent lower, at 33.6 percent.

Steve Jobs himself was on the call, a rarity, and he crowed about how Apple sold more handsets than RIM did. He also mentioned Apple's significant cash reserves of $25 billion and lack of debt.

The conference call made no mention of the exclusion of FireWire on new MacBooks, nor any confirmation that the Mac mini line could either be seeing a refresh or end-of-life.

Gene Munster is skeptical that Apple's guidance of lower margins for the rest of the year in its Q3 conference call back in July, and expects the company to continue to outperform expectations.

The Piper Jaffray analyst said that lower prices for NAND flash memory will offset any reductions in price for new iPods introduced last month.

Munster speculates that even with an introduction of a sub-$1,000 MacBook before the end of the year, Apple's margins will remain healthy. Yes, it will have an impact, but not to the degree that Apple execs hinted in their phone call: Munster thinks margins would only fall to around 30 percent.

In fact, Munster says "investors would see the lack of redesigned, lower-priced Macs as a more significant negative than they would a 30 percent GM guide in the December quarter." (Emphasis mine.)

He reiterated his "buy" rating. Munster's price target for AAPL is still higher than many others (at least recently), at $250 per share.

[Via Ars and AppleInsider.]