Apple’s stock is tanking in after-hours trading, despite the company’s announcement of yet another record-breaking quarter. The problem? Wall Street expected it to make way more.
Apple shares tumbled 5% Thursday after the company failed to beat Wall Street earnings expectations. It’s the first time Apple’s missed analyst projections since 2016.
This despite the company making — yet again — boatloads of money. The company reported record revenue of $83.4 billion, up 29% from a year ago but below analysts’ consensus of $84.85 billion, according to Yahoo Finance.
Overall, revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter was up a not-too-shabby 29% on an annual basis. Apple saw year-over-year growth in all product categories, but especially iPhone revenue, which was up a whopping 47% year-over-year. Still, even this fell short of analyst projections.
Apple blamed the shortfall on supply chain issues. CEO Tim Cook said supply shortages cost the company $6 billion.
“We had a very strong performance despite larger-than-expected supply constraints, which we estimate to be around $6 billion,” Cook told CNBC. “The supply constraints were driven by the industry-wide chip shortages that have been talked about a lot, and COVID-related manufacturing disruptions in Southeast Asia.”
For the next quarter, Cook said Apple expects “solid year-over-year revenue growth,” even though the company will face even greater supply constraints.
Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri reiterated Cook’s point on a conference call with analysts Thursday. Maestri said Apple expects supply-chain problems will have an even larger financial impact in the coming quarter, but that Apple still expects “very solid year-over-year revenue growth.”
“Demand is very robust,” Cook said on the same call.
Apple until now seemed immune to supply constraints. Press reports said key suppliers, like its Taiwanese chip partner TSMC, prioritized Apple, softening the blow of any shortages.
