Apple Announces Q4 Earnings: $28.27 Billion in Revenue, Misses Wall Street Predictions

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Apple today announced its earnings for the fourth fiscal quarter, with $28.27 billion in revenue and $6.62 billion in profit. In Q4, Apple sold 17.07 million iPhones, 11.12 million iPads, and 4.89 million Macs.

This is the first time in years that Apple has missed its Wall Street predictions. However, Apple surpassed its own estimates of $25 billion for the fourth fiscal quarter.

While there was year over year growth for iPhone, iPad, and Mac sales, Apple delivered slightly less revenue than Wall Street predicted. Analysts expected between $29 billion and $33.47 billion in revenue.

Apple sold 20.34 million iPhones, 9.25 million iPads, and 3.95 million Macs in its fiscal 2011 third quarter.

A decline in iPhone sales in this last quarter can be related to anticipation for the company’s next-generation smartphone, which ended up being the iPhone 4S.

Full press release:

CUPERTINO, California—October 18, 2011—Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2011 fourth quarter ended September 24, 2011. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $28.27 billion and quarterly net profit of $6.62 billion, or $7.05 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $20.34 billion and net quarterly profit of $4.31 billion, or $4.64 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 40.3 percent compared to 36.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 63 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

The Company sold 17.07 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 21 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 11.12 million iPads during the quarter, a 166 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 4.89 million Macs during the quarter, a 26 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 6.62 million iPods, a 27 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

“We are thrilled with the very strong finish of an outstanding fiscal 2011, growing annual revenue to $108 billion and growing earnings to $26 billion,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Customer response to iPhone 4S has been fantastic, we have strong momentum going into the holiday season, and we remain really enthusiastic about our product pipeline.”

“We are extremely pleased with our record September quarter revenue and earnings and with cash generation of $5.4 billion during the quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2012, which will span 14 weeks rather than 13, we expect revenue of about $37 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $9.30.

Apple’s earnings conference call is set to take place at 5 p.m. Eastern. We’ll back be back with more highlights from the call.

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