Business

Apple earnings soar as Mac sales back to school record slightly higher than iPhone


At the end of a bad week for Big Tech earnings, Apple Inc. managed to hit top revenue and earnings expectations with the help of Macs that sold at a record pace during the back-to-school season, outperforming iPhone sales. .

Apple
AAPL,
-3.05%

Shares bounced between slight gains and declines in after-hours action on Thursday, even as executives predicted that revenue growth could slow during the holiday quarter. As has happened during the COVID-19 pandemic, Apple executives have declined to issue traditional financial forecasts, but Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri told investors on a conference call that they expect a sustained slowdown in growth in the December quarter, driven in part by strong currencies, a tough comparison to the Mac business, and pressure on the services business. .

The smartphone giant’s revenue grew 8% in the fiscal fourth quarter, to $90.1 billion from $83.4 billion a year earlier and ahead of FactSet consensus by $88.7 billion. . Apple generated $42.6 billion in its biggest business, iPhone sales, up from $38.9 billion a year earlier, but analysts predict $43.0 billion.

A big driver of growth comes from Apple
AAPL,
-3.05%

The Mac segment, took a big hit even as iPhone sales rose slightly. Mac Enterprise set an all-time quarterly revenue record at $11.5 billion in the back-to-school quarter, up from $9.2 billion a year earlier and easily surpassing FactSet consensus, raised $9.3 billion.

CEO Tim Cook explained on the call that the Mac category benefited from the launch of the MacBook Air with Apple’s custom M2 chip, as well as the easing of supply constraints allowing Apple to meet demand. previous backlog. Maestri said he expects Mac sales to “drop significantly” on a year-over-year basis in the December quarter, however, as that period faces tough comparisons.

One key question that appeared in Apple’s report was How demand for the company’s new iPhone 14 series has increasedespecially with the reports that the company has scale back previous production targets. Cook said that while it’s still early days, “consumer demand is strong and better than we expected.”

Cook said the company is experiencing supply constraints for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max models, adding that it’s difficult for the company to “determine the exact combination” of phones for until all your needs can be met.

Revenue performance across Apple product lines varies. While Mac sales surged, iPad revenue fell to $7.2 billion from $8.3 billion, while analysts put the iPad revenue model at $7.8 billion. That category has seen an “opposite” trend to Mac’s business with the iPad up from a “particularly strong iPad quarter” from a year earlier including product launches.

The company posted sales of $9.7 billion across the wearables, home and accessories categories, up from $8.8 billion a year earlier. Analysts had expected revenue of $9.2 billion.

Services revenue rose to $19.2 billion from $18.3 billion but fell short of FactSet’s consensus, which was $20.0 billion. Maestri shared that while he expects the segment to grow in the 12th quarter, the business could be impacted by advertising and gaming pressure, as well as foreign exchange impacts.

In the most recent quarter, Apple recorded net income of $20.7 billion, or $1.29 per share, compared with $20.6 billion, or $1.24 per share in the same period last year. last. Analysts tracked by FactSet were expecting $1.27 a share in earnings.

If Apple shares hold up through the end of Friday, it could be the only Big Tech company with a strong post-earnings stock performance this week. Shares of Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
-1.98%
,
Alphabet Inc.
GOOG,
-2.34%

GOOGL,
-2.85%
,
and Meta Platforms Inc.
META,
-24.56%

each posted sharp intraday declines following their respective reports and Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
-4.06%

The stock was down 12% by the end of Thursday’s trading session.

Apple shares have lost 18% so far this year, driven by the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+0.61%

– which is considered one of the 30 components of Apple – fell 12%.

news7f

News7F: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably

Related Articles

Back to top button