Apple Confirms Decline in Earnings Even If Above Estimates

October 28, 2013 by Jon C. Ogg

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has now reported its quarterly earnings report, which was also the end of the technology giant’s fiscal year as well. Earnings came in at $8.26 per share (EPS) on sales of $37.5 billion. Estimates were down to $7.93 EPS from $8.67 EPS a year ago. Revenue was expected to be $36.84 billion, which would have been 2.4% sales growth from a year ago.

Apple’s quarterly net income was $7.5 billion. Gross margin came in about 37%. Apple had previous offered up guidance for this quarter of 36% to 37% margins on sales of $34 billion to $37 billion.

Tim Cook gave guidance of $55 billion to $58 billion in revenue this coming quarter versus estimates of $55.65 billion. The guidance was also shown in a range of 36.5 percent and 37.5 percent for gross margin. Apple’s cash, cash equivalents, and securities added up to almost $147 billion at the end of the September quarter.

International sales accounted for 60% of revenue in this last quarter. Unit sales were as follows:

  • 33.8 million iPhones, a record, and compared to 26.9 million in the year-ago quarter;
  • 14.1 million iPads, compared to 14 million in the year-ago quarter;
  • and 4.6 million Macs, compared to 4.9 million in the year-ago quarter.

Tim Cook showed that Apple generated a whopping $9.9 billion in cash flow from operations in the last quarter. The company also returned $7.8 billion in cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.

Apple shares closed up 0.7% at $529.88 against a 52-week range of $385.10 to $603.00. Its 50-day moving average was $492.48 and 200-day moving average was $451.86 according to stockcharts.com ahead of he closing price on Monday going into earnings. Shares are indicated down around 3% around $513 in the after-hours trading session.

Tweets on Twitter updated below at 5:20 p.m. EST:

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