Apple reports better-than-expected quarter driven by iPhone sales

• Apple reported second-fiscal quarter earnings on Thursday that beat Wall Street’s soft expectations, driven by stronger-than-anticipated iPhones sales.
• However, Apple’s overall sales fell for the second quarter in a row.  
• “It was quite a good quarter from an iPhone point of view, particularly relative to the market when you look at the market stats,” CEO Tim Cook told CNBC’s Steve Kovach.  

Apple reported second-fiscal quarter earnings on Thursday that beat Wall Street’s soft expectations, driven by stronger-than-anticipated iPhones sales. Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC that the quarter was “better than we expected.” 

However, Apple’s overall sales fell for the second quarter in a row. The tech giant’s shares rose nearly 2% in extended trading, and continued climbing when Apple gave forecast data points about the current quarter.

Here’s how the company did versus Wall Street expectations per Refinitiv consensus expectations: 

• EPS: $1.52 per share vs. $1.43 expected 
• Revenue: $94.84 billion vs. $92.96 billion expected 
• Gross margin: 44.3% vs. 44.1% expected 

Apple reported $24.16 billion in net income during the quarter compared to $25.01 billion in the year-earlier period. Total revenue was off 3% from $97.28 billion in the prior quarter.

Here’s how Apple’s individual product lines did versus StreetAccount consensus expectations: 

• iPhone revenue: $51.33 billion vs. $48.84 billion expected 
• Mac revenue: $7.17 billion vs. $7.80 billion expected 
• iPad revenue: $6.67 billion vs. $6.69 billion expected 
• Other Products revenue: $8.76 billion vs. $8.43 billion expected 
• Services revenue: $20.91 billion vs. $20.97 billion expected 

Apple didn’t provide formal guidance, continuing its practice that dates back to 2020 and the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Management typically provides some data points on a call with analysts.

Apple finance chief Luca Maestri said the company expects overall revenue in the current quarter to decline about 3%.

“We expect our June quarter year-over-year revenue performance to be similar to the March quarter assuming that the macroeconomic outlook does not worsen from what we are projecting today for the current quarter,” Maestri said on a call with analysts. He added the company is facing macroeconomic challenges in digital advertising and mobile gaming, which is part of Apple’s services business.

The highlight of Apple’s report was iPhone sales, which grew from the year-ago quarter even as the broader smartphone industry contracted nearly 15% during the same time, according to an IDC estimate.  

IPhone revenue increased 2% during the quarter that ended April 1, suggesting that parts shortages and supply chain issues that had hampered the product for the last few years — including an iPhone factory shutdown late last year — had finally abated.  

“It was quite a good quarter from an iPhone point of view, particularly relative to the market when you look at the market stats,” Cook told CNBC’s Steve Kovach.  

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Apple Tim Cook waves to people during the opening of the first Apple Inc. flagship store in Mumbai, India on April 18, 2023.

Apple’s Mac and iPad businesses didn’t fare as well. The company warned last quarter that both business segments would decline, partially due to parts shortages but they fell further than expected.  

Apple’s Mac sales were off more than 31% to just over $7.17 billion. But that’s a difficult comparison from the year-earlier period when Apple was still benefiting from the end of a pandemic boom in PC sales and a shift to its own chips that offer longer laptop battery life.  

“There’s really two reasons for that,” Cook said. “One is the macro situation in general. And the other is where we’re still comparing to the very difficult compare of the M1 MacBook Pro 14 and 16-inch from the year-ago quarter.” 

Revenue from iPads declined nearly 13% to $6.67 billion.  

Apple’s Services business includes monthly subscriptions, revenue from Apple’s App Store, warranties and search-licensing revenue from companies like Google. Apple reported $20.9 billion in services revenue, a 5.5% year-over-year increase, signaling the company’s highest-margin business line continues to grow.  

Apple’s wearables division, including Apple Watch and headphones such as AirPods, dropped 1% during the quarter, beating analyst expectations. Last fall, the company released a more expensive Apple Watch, called Ultra.  

Apple’s China regional business, which includes the mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong, reported $17.81 billion in sales, down from last year’s $18.34 billion. Analysts had hoped that China’s demand for electronics would rise in the quarter as the company exits out of Covid-era lockdowns and other restrictions.  

While sales shrunk in most regions that Apple monitors, they grew in the Asia Pacific region to $8.11 billion.

Cook was optimistic about Apple’s prospects in India after his visit last month to the country where he opened Apple stores and met with politicians.  

“The switcher and first-time buyer metrics look very good there for India,” Cook said. Apple uses the term “switcher” to refer to first-time iPhone buyers who previously had Android devices.  

As expected, Apple’s board authorized $90 billion in share repurchases and dividends. Apple said it paid $23 billion in buybacks and dividends in the March quarter. Apple also raised its dividend 4% to 24 cents per share.  

Cook also said that Apple was not planning layoffs like those that other big tech companies have started over the past year.  “I view that as a last resort and, so, mass layoffs is not something that we’re talking about at this moment,” he said.

Source: CNBC