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Apple
shares are trading higher late Wednesday after the company posted an impressive earnings and sales beat for the fiscal second quarter ended March 31.
For the quarter, Apple posted revenue of $89.6 billion, up an astonishing 54% from the $58.3 billion reported a year earlier, and $12 billion ahead of the Street consensus forecast at $77 billion. Profits were $1.40 a share, crushing the Street consensus view at 98 cents.
Apple
(ticker: AAPL) also announced a $90 billion expansion of its stock repurchase program and increased its quarterly dividend by 7% to 22 cents a share.
“This quarter reflects both the enduring ways our products have helped our users meet this moment in their own lives, as well as the optimism consumers seem to feel about better days ahead for all of us,” Apple CEO
Tim Cook
said in a statement. “Apple is in a period of sweeping innovation across our product lineup, and we’re keeping focus on how we can help our teams and the communities where we work emerge from this pandemic into a better world.”
CFO Luca Maestri added in a statement that Apple had record revenue in each geographic segment and double-digit growth in each product category. He notes that the company had $24 billion in operating cash flow in the quarter, and returned nearly $23 billion to holders in dividends and share buybacks.
The quarter was led by $47.9 billion in iPhone sales, up 65.5%, and well ahead of Street estimates of about $41.4 billion. Services revenue was $16.9 billion, up 26.6%, more than $1 billion ahead of Street expectations. Mac sales were $9.1 billion, up 70.1%, while iPad sales were $7.8 billion, up 79.4%, both way ahead of Street estimates. Wearables sales were $7.8 billion, up 24.7%, also better than forecast by the Street.
The company saw strong growth in all geographies, with China up 88%. Sales were up 35% in the Americas, 56% in Europe, 49% in Japan and 94% in the rest of Asia.
On a conference call with analysts, Maestri said Apple isn’t providing specific revenue guidance due to ongoing Covid-related uncertainties. He said the company expects “strong double digit” revenue growth in the June quarter, but added that the sequential decline from the March quarter will be greater than in prior years, due to the later launch last year of the iPhone 12 and some impact from component shortages.
He said the company expects revenue to be reduced by $3 billion to $4 billion in the June quarter due to supply constraints. He also said gross margin is expected to be 41.5% to 42.5% in the June quarter down a bit from 42.5% in the March quarter.
Apple in late trading is up 3%, to $137.62.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at [email protected]
