Record iPhone sales helped Apple beat Wall Street estimates for 2013’s third fiscal quarter, but the company’s profits declined and its earnings barely rose, dragged down by slumping sales of other products. Still, investors liked what they heard, with Apple stock rising in after-hours trading following the news.
Apple reported revenue of $35.3 billion and a net profit of $6.9 billion, or $7.47 per diluted share, for Q3 2013. The revenue surpassed Wall Street’s consensus of $35.18 billion; the company’s own prediction for the quarter had been $33.5 billion to $35.5 billion.
This is typically a boring quarter for Apple, but moving 31.2 million iPhones — a Q3 record, compared to 26 million this time last year — surprised just about everybody, and in a good way. Other product lines fell short of sales estimates, though. Fewer iPads were sold in the quarter compared to last year, but that’s likely due to the rumored fall announcement of the fifth-gen iPad and second-gen iPad mini. Mac sales also dropped slightly, with 3.8 million sold versus 4 million in Q3 2012.
Looking ahead, Apple’s guidance for the fourth quarter stands between $34 billion and $37 billion. “We are laser-focused and working hard on some amazing new products that we will introduce in the fall and across 2014,” said Tim Cook in the press release.
Here are the full results from Apple:
Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2013 third quarter ended June 29, 2013. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $35.3 billion and quarterly net profit of $6.9 billion, or $7.47 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $35 billion and net profit of $8.8 billion, or $9.32 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 36.9 percent compared to 42.8 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 57 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
The Company sold 31.2 million iPhones, a record for the June quarter, compared to 26 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple also sold 14.6 million iPads during the quarter, compared to 17 million in the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 3.8 million Macs, compared to 4 million in the year-ago quarter.
Apple’s Board of Directors has declared a cash dividend of $3.05 per share of the Company’s common stock. The dividend is payable on August 15, 2013, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on August 12, 2013.
“We are especially proud of our record June quarter iPhone sales of over 31 million and the strong growth in revenue from iTunes, Software and Services,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We are really excited about the upcoming releases of iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks, and we are laser-focused and working hard on some amazing new products that we will introduce in the fall and across 2014.”
“We generated $7.8 billion in cash flow from operations during the quarter and are pleased to have returned $18.8 billion in cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO.
Apple reported a profit of $8.8 billion and $35 billion in revenue for the third quarter of 2012, so profit is still down and revenue growth is flat. The company’s year-over-year net profit shrank for the first time in a decade last quarter.
There hasn’t been one major new product announcement from Apple all year, so next quarter will paint a more realistic look at where things are headed.
Source: Apple
