Apple Posts Solid Quarter - But A Lousy Outlook
It's a beat on the top and bottom line thanks to better than expected iPhone and iPad sales.
The stock was up 6% after hours, going to ~$429. Then it crashed, and is now slightly down.
Apple also announced plans for its cash. The company will return $100 billion to shareholders by the end of 2015.
Apple authorized a $60 billion share buyback plan, and upped its quarterly dividend to $3.05 per share. To pay for the return, Apple plans to borrow cash.
Apple's guidance for the June quarter is pretty weak compared to sell-side analyst estimates, but that was sort of expected.
Overall, this was a pretty good quarter, judged by the numbers.
However, on the earnings call, CEO Tim Cook revealed Apple has no new products planned until the fall. That means Apple is going to go a long time before producing new stuff.
As a result the company's earnings growth will continue to shrink, and its revenue will go flat.
Here's a full breakdown of how Apple did versus estimates:
- Revenue: $43.6 billion billion versus $42.3 billion analysts' estimate
- EPS: $10.09 versus $9.98 analysts' estimate
- Gross margin: 37.5% versus 38.5% analysts' estimate
- iPhone: 37.4 million versus 36.5 million analysts' estimate
- iPad: 19.5 million versus 18.3 million analysts' estimate
- Mac: Just under 4 million million versus 4.1 million analysts' estimate
- iPod: 5.6 million versus 6.25 million analysts' estimate
- June quarter revenue: $33.5-$35.5 billion versus $38.6 billion analysts' estimate
- June quarter gross margin: 36%-37% versus 38.6% analysts' estimate
- Cash balance of $145 billion
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We'll have a live blog of Apple's earnings call starting at 5 PM eastern.