Earnings Preview: Expectations high for Apple earnings today

On average, 36 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the iPhone maker to earn $1.42 per share for the quarter, while revenues is forecast to rise 17 percent to $9.2 billion. For the full-year, analysts expect earnings of $5.88 per share on revenues of $35.87 billion. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Apple is scheduled to report its earnings Monday at 2 p.m. pacific, 5 p.m. eastern.

The Cupertino, California-based computing and electronics company said in July that earnings per share for the fourth quarter are estimated in the range of $1.18 to $1.23 and revenue in the range of $8.7 billion to $8.9 billion.

Analysts believe sales of Apple's new iPod Touches, released in early September, as well as the iPhones have been consistently strong throughout the quarter.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster believes the company will have sold 7.5 million handsets during the September quarter. He, along with most others on Wall Street, expects the company's stock price to go well above $200 in the next 12 months.

Apple also begin selling Snow Leopard, an upgrade to the Macintosh operating system during the quarter. That will allow the company to maintain its already high gross profit margin because software is more profitable than hardware.

Looking ahead, analysts expect December earnings of $1.91 per share, according to Thomson Reuters. They also predict Apple, which traditionally gives very conservative guidance, to forecast $1.68 per share.