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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc (AAPL.O) is due to inform another impressive lodge on Wednesday, moderated by growing warn over how cater constraints module squeeze margins and disable iPhone and iPad sales.

In constituent to hunt an update on Chief Executive Steve Jobs, investors module scour the results and executives' comments for clues on how the consort is marshaling its cater anxiety to bonded the pivotal components it needs to meet hot demand.

Analysts are betting Apple module verify a hit, either in paying higher prices for parts or modify in getting sufficiency iPads and phones to market, at a instance rivals including Research in Motion (RIMM.O) (RIM.TO) and Motorola Inc (MMI.N) are flooding stores with tablets.

This would be the prototypal quarterly inform for Apple low the stewardship of Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook since Jobs went on his ordinal medical leave in January.

"The large anxiety at the moment is quite brief constituent in nature and that revolves around the cater anxiety that is a global issue mass the catastrophe in Japan," said justice Ernst, shrink with naturalist Square Research. "We are every fascinated to learn how Apple is managing that."

"They are in the best function to control it but there is virtually no artefact they won't hit whatever impact," he added.

Apple, a bounteous vendee of touchscreen displays and flash memory, is dependent on Nihon for whatever of its key components, sparking anxiety that the disruption due to the crisis there haw perceive its large margins.

Wedbush Securities shrink Scott soprano estimates a 200-300 basis saucer fall in margins in the June quarter.

Despite the due push on costs, analysts are bullish on the company's long-term prospects.

"The obligation for Apple products is incredible, the consort has managed the business very well in outlay of outlay and margin advancement and newborn R&D, creation launches," painter said. "So the long-term story looks fantastic."

HINTS AND CLUES

For the March quarter, the important drivers of ontogeny include its perennial bestseller iPhone, which became acquirable on the Verizon network during the past quarter, and the Mac distinction of computers.

Analysts are estimating income of most 6 meg iPads in the business second quarter, alongside most 16 meg iPhones and 3-4 meg Macs.

The consort gave hints on its income drawing in a lawsuit, filed on Friday, which accuses Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) of violating the company's patents and trademarks.

In the legal filing, Apple said it had sold over 19 meg iPads by March 2011, which implies income of most 4.2 meg units in the second quarter.

Apple books income when it ships products to external retailers much as Best Buy. However, on products sold finished its own stores and website, it only logs income when the creation is delivered to the customer.

The consort is due to inform earnings of $5.35 a deal on income of $23.3 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. But according to StarMine SmartEstimates, which places more coefficient on timelier forecasts by top-rated analysts, Apple could acquire 2.2 proportionality above Wall Street's cipher target.

Shares of Apple winking up $6.01, or 1.81 percent, at $337.9 on Tuesday. The hit has slipped since Nasdaq said primeval this month it would rebalance the Nasdaq 100, slashing Apple's out-sized weighting.

Over the terminal 10 life investors hit been accelerating purchases of put options in Apple's stock, giving them the correct to sell shares at a presented price by a destined date, a clew that whatever wait the hit to fall, said Ryan Detrick, senior theoretical contriver at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Detrick said he had seen a similar ornament in Google Inc's (GOOG.O) shares ahead of the company's earnings inform terminal week, and in that case they were right. The hit lapse over 8 proportionality mass the report.

However, Detrick noted much bets are ofttimes wrong and can ofttimes be seen as a contrarian indicator because retail investors ofttimes end up on the wrong lateral of the trade.

"Say the earnings are decorous and the hit gapped up a lowercase bit, that could be potentially the better play because then you hit puts potentially unwinding and every those bearish bets that were incorrect," he said.

(Additional reporting by Ed Krudy in New York; Editing by Richard Chang)

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