Apple today announced its earnings for its second fiscal quarter of 2013. Apple’s revenue amounted to $43.6 billion in Q2. With earnings of $10.09 per share. Apple posted $9.5 billion in profit.
Analysts had estimated $41.82 billion in revenue, with earnings of $9.92 per share. Apple itself estimated revenue between $41B and $43B for Q2, 2013, it did not provide profit estimates. This does mark the first y/y drop in profit in over 10 years, at 18%.
Apple sold 37.4 million iPhones and 19.5 million iPads this quarter. Apple sold ‘just under’ 4 million Macs during the quarter and 5.6M iPods.
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The iPhone sales were relatively flat from 35.1M the year-ago quarter. iPad sales, however, were up from the 11.8M mark a year ago. Mac sales were almost completely flat and iPod sales were down.
One of the biggest numbers to watch going in was gross margin, which was estimated at between 37.5% and 38.5%. Apple reported 37.5% compared to the y/y quarter which rode at 47.4%. The reduction is likely due to lower margin items like the iPad mini, a point which Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer confirmed during an earnings call.
“We are pleased to report record March quarter revenue thanks to continued strong performance of iPhone and iPad,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Our teams are hard at work on some amazing new hardware, software and services, and we are very excited about the products in our pipeline.”
“Our cash generation remains very strong, with $12.5 billion in cash flow from operations during the quarter and an ending cash balance of $145 billion,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO.
Projections for Q3
Apple offered somewhat more conservative estimates for Q3:
- Revenue between $33.5 billion and $35.5 billion
- Gross margin between 36 percent and 37 percent
- Operating expenses between $3.85 billion and $3.95 billion
- Other income/(expense) of $300 million
The stash
Apple now has a cash hoard, including cash, short term and long term investments, of some $145 billion after its newly instituted dividend payout.
Comparing and estimating
Fortune estimates of Apple’s Q2 had placed overall revenue estimates from analysts at around $41.82 billion in revenue, with earnings of $9.92 per share. Estimates had placed iPhone sales at around 35.86 million and iPad sales at around 18.19 million. Independent estimates had placed those numbers somewhat higher, aside from iPads.
Apple’s Q1 was affected by several factors, including the fact that there were only 13 weeks of sales, as compared to 14 weeks in the year-ago quarter. This will make today’s numbers a tad more impressive than they look when compared y/y. Note, too, that the numbers beat Apple’s own guidance, which was $52B in revenue and earnings of $11.75. If you adjust growth numbers for a 13 week quarter, iPhone grew 37% and iPad grew 60%. The street has consistently out-estimated Apple’s numbers, convinced that they were under-reporting.
Last quarter, Apple said that it was rejiggering the way that it provided estimates, which is why it went with a range, rather than a solid number.
In year-ago second fiscal quarter of 2012, Apple’s revenue amounted to $39.19B, with earnings of $12.30 per share. The company’s net profit in Q2 ’12 was $13.06 billion. In the Q2 2012 earnings report, issued in April, Apple reported $39.2 billion revenue, $13.06 billion profit, $12.30 EPS, 35.1 million iPhones, 11.8 million iPads, 4.89 million Macs.
On October 17th, 2011 Apple announced that sales of the iPhone 4S had exceeded 4 million units over its first weekend. The iPhone 5 was said to exceed that, selling 5M units over its first weekend. Last September, Apple said that 2M iPhone 5s had been ordered in 24 hours, doubling the pre-order record for the iPhone 4S.
Apple will be streaming its earnings call live at 2pm, we will bring you important news and analysis from the call shortly thereafter.
Image Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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