Apple Earnings Crushed Expectations. Why the Stock Is Dropping. - Barron's

Apple set revenue records in each geographic region where it is active.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Apple posted blowout results for its fiscal third quarter, ended June 30, but the stock edged lower in late trading.

In premarket trading, Apple shares were down 1% to $145.28.

For the quarter, Apple (ticker: AAPL) reported revenue of $81.4 billion, up 36% from a year earlier, an increase driven in particular by continuing strong demand for iPhones. The figure was nearly $10 billion above the Wall Street consensus forecast of $72.9 billion.

Profits were $1.30 a share, easily beating the $1 a share analysts had expected.

Revenue from iPhone sales came in at $39.6 billion, up nearly 50%, and well ahead of the Street consensus forecast of $34.2 billion.

In fact, the company exceeded estimates in every product category. Mac revenues were $8.2 billion, up 16%, while iPad revenues were 12% higher at $7.4 billion. Revenue from wearables, home, and accessories was $8.8 billion, up 36%. Services revenue was $17.5 billion, up 33%. The company said it finished the quarter with more than 700 million paid subscribers across its services portfolio, up more than 150 million from a year ago.

Revenues in the Americas were $35.9 billion, up 33%, while Europe came in at $18.9 billion, up 34%, and Greater China revenue was $14.8 billion, up 58%. Revenues in Japan were $5.5 billion, up 30%, and the rest of Asia was $5.4 billion, up 28%.

“This quarter, our teams built on a period of unmatched innovation by sharing powerful new products with our users, at a time when using technology to connect people everywhere has never been more important,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement. “We’re continuing to press forward in our work to infuse everything we make with the values that define us—by inspiring a new generation of developers to learn to code, moving closer to our 2030 environment goal, and engaging in the urgent work of building a more equitable future.”

CFO Luca Maestri said in a statement that the company set revenue records in each geographic region, with double-digit growth in each product category. He said the company returned nearly $29 billion to shareholders in the quarter in dividends and stock buybacks.

On a call with analysts, Maestri said the company again won’t provide detailed financial guidance given the ongoing uncertainty related to the pandemic. He said the company sees strong double-digit revenue growth in the September quarter, but at a smaller level than in June, for three reasons.

One, he said foreign exchange issues will be 3 percentage points less favorable. Two, he said services growth will be lower, after the June quarter benefited from an easy comparison in the year ago quarter, when advertising and Apple Care revenues were impacted by the pandemic. And three, he said that supply constraints will be higher than they were in the June quarter, with a particular impact on iPhone and iPad sales.

The company had warned a quarter ago that supply constraints would trim sales by between $3 billion and $4 billion, but Maestri said the company was able to make adjustments and reduced the impact to slightly below the low end of that range.

Maestri noted that the company finished the quarter with $72 billion in net cash. The company bought back $17.5 billion of stock in open market purchases in the quarter.

Write to Eric J. Savitz at eric.savitz@barrons.com

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