Apple reported quarterly revenue that rose more than 22 percent as sales of iPhones jumped 36 percent.
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Apple’s sheer size means growth is tougher to achieve. Apple’s stock rose slightly after the company issued its report, then settled near the day’s closing price of $114.55.
On Tuesday, Apple reported wild earnings for its fiscal 2015 fourth quarter. A year earlier, Apple earned $1.42 per share on $42.1 billion in revenue.
According to the company’s CFO Luca Maestri, September quarter results drove earnings per share growth of 38 percent and operating cash flow of $13.5 billion. Gross margin, a measure of profitability, widened to 39.9 percent. China has become the second largest geographical market for the company after the Americas. Introduced on 25 September, the newest models-iPhone 6S and 6S Plus-come with an improved camera, faster processor and new 3D Touch screens.
Apple continues to be cagey about Apple Watch sales, though year-over-year revenues in the Other Products category, which includes Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats, iPod, and accessories, were up a whopping 61 percent. Net income grew 35 percent to $53.4 billion for the year. In addition, Apple doesn’t anticipate any sort of slowdown when it comes to China, with the nation’s continually growing middle class boosting iPhone sales. Shipments of the tablet fell 20% to 9.88 million units in the recent quarter, the seventh straight decline. It was the highest rate of switchers that Apple has ever measured, Cook said. Analysts put it at around 3.5 million. “It gets harder to show growth”. That’s up from $2.6 billion in the June quarter, when IDC estimates Apple shipped about 3.6 million watches. “The seasonality in China is really a new wrinkle”, he said. It cautioned its current quarter will generate $75.5 billion to $77.5 billion in revenue, short of the $77 billion analysts expect at the low end. Cook noted that the switcher number comes from those who purchased an iPhone last quarter and also upgraded from a smartphone. How has China changed Apple? At its launch in the US Apple said more than 1 million credit cards had been registered on Apple Pay in its first three days of availability.
Apple today announced an expansion of its mobile payments service Apple Pay in two new countries, Australia and Canada, for owners of American Express cards.
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Apple Watch “has already had a tremendous effect on customer health and fitness and the stories we’re hearing about its impact are truly inspirational”, he added. So as usual, the big question is how Wall Street will translate these mixed numbers to the stock. And why not? Compared to many other firms Apple has been reliably beating its numbers.
