Apple Forecasts Lower Net Sales Through March

Beleaguered Apple Computer Inc. said it doesn’t expect to be profitable in the fiscal fourth quarter and that net sales--sales minus returns--will be below year-earlier levels through at least March 1998.

The company made the disclosures in a filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission after the market closed.

Apple, which has lost $1.7 billion in the last seven quarters, saw its share price jump last week after rival Microsoft Corp. announced a $150-million investment in the Cupertino-based computer maker.

“It’s going to get a little worse before it’s going to get better,” said Daniel Kunstler, an analyst with J.P. Morgan Securities. “The language is very cautionary,” he said.

Apple executives weren’t immediately available for comment.

“The company does not believe it will return to profitability in the fourth quarter,” Apple said in its filing. Apple’s fiscal year ends in September.

Gilbert Amelio, who was ousted as Apple’s chairman and chief executive last month, had vowed that the computer maker would return to profitability by the fiscal fourth quarter. The company has yet to name his replacement.

Apple shares fell $2.25 to close at $24.56 in Nasdaq trading.