Apple data misses expectations as customers await new iPhone
Net income climbed 21% to $8.82bn, or $9.32 a share, in the period that ended Jun 30, Apple said yesterday in a statement. Sales rose 23% to $35bn. Analysts had predicted profit of $10.37 a share on revenue of $37.2bn, the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Even as Apple outgrew many of its tech-industry peers, its sales came in at the slowest pace since mid-2009. Apple is preparing to overhaul the look of the iPhone and the drop in purchases from the 35.1 million sold in the second quarter shows how anticipation for the latest model can have short-term consequences for financial results. The iPhone is Apple’s biggest source of revenue.
“Every quarter that Apple isn’t launching a new iPhone it’s a transition quarter,” said Brian Marshall, an analyst at ISI Group. “That’s the key product that matters.”
Apple, the world’s largest company by market value, fell in extended trading. The shares had slipped less than 1% to $600.92 at the close in New York, trimming the year-to-date gain to 48%.
The 26m iPhones sold compared with 28.4m, the average prediction of 19 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Apple also sold 17m iPads, compared with the 15.4m projected.
The period was the first full quarter worth of sales for Apple’s latest iPad, which launched in March and has a high-definition screen and stronger processor, and works with faster next-generation wireless networks from carriers such as Verizon Wireless and AT&T.
Looking ahead to the current quarter, Apple forecast revenue of about $34bn and profit of $7.65 a share. That compares with predictions by analysts for sales of $38bn and profit of $10.27 a share.
Gross margin, the percentage of sales left after deducting the costs of production, was 42.8%, against 41.7% a year earlier.
— Bloomberg
