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Brush up on financial lingo for Apple’s quarterly earnings call

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Learn the financial lingo to get the most out of earnings call chatter.
Learn the financial lingo to get the most out of earnings call chatter.
Photo: Kevin Dooley/Flickr CC

During quarterly earnings calls, executives often deploy language designed to puff up, excuse or obfuscate their companies’ recent performance. The goal is to make investors pant with delight over implied future success. And ultimately to give the company more money. Always. More. Money.

But when you’re Apple — with a mind-blowing market cap and a seemingly never-ending supply of hit products, including phenomenal growth in services — you typically don’t need to craft hopeful-yet-non-material statements or deflect questions designed to get at the bottom line.

Apple’s next earnings call takes place this afternoon. CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri will report on all the numbers. Analysts figure there will be a drop in revenue and earnings for the quarter ending in September (third quarter by the calendar but Apple’s Q4 because it starts its fiscal year in the holiday season).

1 billion subscribers push Apple’s services revenue to all-time high [Updated]

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Apple logo with
Apple says more than a billion paid subscriptions pushed services revenues to an all-time high last quarter.
Photo: Goran Bogicevic/Free Stock photos by Vecteezy

The number of people subscribing to Apple services passed the 1 billion mark during the company’s most recent financial quarter, allowing that segment of the company to bring in record revenue.

But total revenue decreased slightly during the June quarter, the third time that’s happened in a row. And the money coming in from all Apple’s hardware groups is down.

5 reasons to ignore Apple’s rare revenue dip

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Apple logo overlayed in front of a stormy sky with sun breaking through the clouds, and the text,
Despite a 3% year-to-year drop in quarterly revenue (to "only" $94.8 billion), Apple delivers plenty of reasons for optimism.
Photos: Michael & Diane Weidner and Sumudu Mohottige/Unsplash License/Modified by Cult of Mac

Perhaps the best phrase to describe the results of Apple’s most recent financial quarter is, “It could have been worse.” Total revenue dropped 3% as the company battled inflation and other macroeconomic problems not of its making.

Still, Apple’s quarterly numbers beat the overly pessimistic Wall Street estimates. And there is more good news buried in the results Apple reported Thursday (and in the company’s earnings call with investors). Read on for five reasons to be optimistic about Apple’s future.

Huge stock award lets Apple CEO Tim Cook pull in cool $98.7 million in 2021

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Tim Cook earnings apple
Tim Cook’s compensation package for 2021 is more than 6x what it was in the previous year.
Illustration: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

It’s good to be the CEO — Apple chief executive Tim Cook was paid $98.7 million in 2021. That’s a combination of a base salary, an incentive plan and other compensation, but the lion’s share is in Apple stock.

Other top Apple executives also have 8-figure annual compensation packages, if not anywhere close to Cook’s.

Apple TV+ subscriber numbers remain a total mystery

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Tim Cook is keeping quiet about Apple TV+ subscriber numbers for now.
Tim Cook could open up on the success of Apple's various subscription services.
Photo: Apple

Apple just can’t stop touting its surging revenue from subscription services. But when it comes to Apple TV+ subscriber numbers, Cupertino is keeping suspiciously quiet.

“2019 was a historic year” for Apple’s services business, CEO Tim Cook said Tuesday during the company’s latest record-smashing earnings call. He then went on to drop specific numbers about services like the App Store and Apple Pay. But when it came to new services like Apple TV+, Cook kept things decidedly vague.

Cook loves to reiterate that Apple TV+ serves as a creative place for the world’s best storytellers. And the story he’s masterfully spinning about the streaming video service is a great big mystery.

The biggest surprises from Apple’s shockingly good earnings report

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quotes on Apple
Tim Cook is the CEO of getting a bag.
Illustration: Cult of Mac

The first Apple earnings report of 2020 was a smashing success that shattered most of Apple’s previous records. Thanks to shockingly strong iPhone sales and a surging wearables business that is bigger than the Mac and the iPad, Apple managed to surpass even the most optimistic expectations.

Apple CEO Tim Cook held a call with investors after the numbers came out to dive deeper into the impressive quarterly results. Cook dished on everything from the success of Apple TV+ and problems with AirPods Pro supplies to the Wuhan coronavirus affecting China. If you didn’t get a chance to join the call, don’t worry, Cult of Mac has you covered with all the need-to-know info.

iPhone 11 propels Apple to another record-breaking quarter

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apple earnings
Apple's money-making machine is on a new level.
Photo illustration: Steve Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s first earnings report of 2020 saw the company hit a new all-time record for revenue made in a quarter thanks to stronger than expected iPhone sales.

The iPhone-maker brought in $91.8 billion during the holiday quarter which has the stock soaring in after-hours trading. Worries over how the coronavirus in China might affect Apple’s production throughout 2020 had Wall Street worried yesterday and based on Apple’s guidance for Q2 2020, the company doesn’t seem overly concerned it will have a big impact on profits yet.

5 big questions heading into Apple’s first earnings report of 2020

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Earnings call
Apple's Q1 2020 earnings report will probably break some records.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple’s first earnings report of the decade is barely 24 hours away, and Wall Street is praying for another historic quarter.

After defying gravity for the last 12 months, Apple’s soaring stock price suffered its biggest single-day loss in more than six months today. Tuesday’s Q1 2020 earnings, which will cover sales from the 2019 holiday season, could provide the jolt AAPL shares need to start jumping up the charts again. However, certain hot topics — and what Apple says about them — could signal a downturn ahead.

Biggest shockers from Apple’s record-smashing Q4 earnings

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quotes on Apple
Surprise! Apple made an ungodly amount of money last quarter.
Photo: Apple

Apple shares are soaring in after-hours trading today thanks to yet another record-breaking earnings report.

Tim Cook and Apple CFO Luca Maestri got on the phone with investors after the numbers came and provided some surprising details on how Apple hit a new high for Q4 revenue despite slowing iPhone sales. While everyone has been focusing on Apple’s booming services business, one of the company’s other product categories has transformed into its true growth engine.