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An Apple store in Bangkok.
Mladen Antonov / AFP via Getty Images
Apple
delivered better than expected results for the fiscal first quarter as customers purchased iPhones, Macs, iPads and other Apple products at an impressive pace. Sales exceeded Wall Street expectations in every category.
Moving into the quarter, Wall Street analysts’ expectations were mainly driven by the potential for a burst quarter for iPhone sales, following the recent launch of the iPhone 12 series. And Apple (ticker: AAPL) supplied.
In a conference call with analysts, CEO Tim Cook said the company passed 1.65 billion total installed devices worldwide in the quarter, with an iPhone group installed of more than 1 billion. He also said the company had record sales in all geographic areas.
Overall, Apple posted sales of $ 111.4 billion, an increase of 21% from the same quarter last year, and profit of $ 1.68 per share. That was well above Street’s consensus: $ 102.8 billion and $ 1.40 per share.
Apple posted iPhone revenues of $ 65.6 in the quarter. billion, up 17% from a year ago, well above the Street consensus of $ 59.6 billion, as tracked by FactSet.
The three months ended December 31 were also strong for laptops and tables. IPad sales were $ 8.4 billion, up 41%, ahead of Street at $ 7.4 billion. For Macs, boosted by both the arrival of the first models powered by Apple’s proprietary M1 processor and the continued increase in demand as a result of the stay-at-home trend, revenue was $ 8.7 billion, up from 21%, and slightly. above Street’s forecast of $ 8.6 billion.
Wearables sales were also strong, growing 30% to $ 13 billion, ahead of the Street at $ 11.5 billion. And service revenues were up 24% to $ 15.7 billion, before Street’s consensus at $ 15.2 billion.
Sales were up 12% in America, 17% in Europe and 57% in Greater China, with profits of 33% in Japan and 11.5% in the rest of Asia.
“Our business performance in the December quarter was fueled by double-digit growth in every product category, which set record records in each of our geographic segments and record highs for our installed active devices,” said CFO Luca Maestri. in a statement. “These results helped us generate record operating cash flow of $ 38.8 billion. We also returned more than $ 30 billion to shareholders during the quarter as we maintain our goal of achieving a net cash neutral position over time. “
The company said it repurchased $ 24.8 billion worth of stock in the quarter.
Apple has not made any financial predictions in the release. For the seasonally milder March quarter, Street’s consensus expectation was $ 74 billion in revenue and earnings of 90 cents a share.
Maestri said on the call that given the ongoing uncertainty resulting from the pandemic, the company is again not providing details on its earnings and earnings outlook. But the company said it expects annual revenue growth to accelerate. He said the company expects some slowdown in the growth of its services, following a difficult comparison from a year ago, and it also expects slower growth in wearables.
After rallying 82% in 2020, the stock has rallied another 7% this year. The stock remains the largest company in the world by market capitalization, with a valuation of just under $ 2.4 trillion.
The company ended the quarter with $ 196 billion in cash and securities, offset by $ 112 billion in total debt, for a net cash of $ 84 billion, the CFO said. He also noted that the gross margin rose to 39.8% in the quarter from 38.4% a year ago.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at [email protected]