Apple Inc reported record sales of Mac computers and stronger-than-expected gross margins, but iPhone sales were slightly below bullish forecasts.
Apple’s stock edged higher in after-hours trading, after closing up 2.7 percent on NASDAQ before the news. Investors had also snapped up the stock ahead of the launch today of a product expected to be a tablet computer.
Apple said on Monday it shipped 8.7 million iPhones in the holiday quarter, just short of the Wall Street target of roughly 9 million. Apple’s iPhones compete with Research in Motion’s BlackBerry and other smartphones.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
Mac sales continued to show momentum, rising 33 percent from a year ago to 3.36 million units. Analysts’ average estimate was about 3 million Macs.
Gross margin rose to 40.9 percent from 37.9 percent a year ago, trouncing Wall Street’s estimate of 35.8 percent, on a continued shift toward higher-margin products like Macs and iPhones.
“Mac sales were very strong, which more than offset what might be perceived as a ho-hum iPhone number,” said Bill Kreher, an analyst at Edward Jones.
“Maybe some on the Street were getting a little euphoric with their expectations on the iPhone,” he said.
Although Wall Street is already looking ahead to the tablet announcement, Apple’s holiday-quarter results may have provided the firm with a strong start to the week.
Apple, which has surpassed Wall Street expectations for earnings per share by at least 15 percent in the past four quarters, adopted new accounting standards for its fiscal first quarter.
The company posted net income of US$3.38 billion, or US$3.67 a share in the fiscal first quarter ended on Dec. 26, up from US$2.26 billion, or US$2.50 a share, in the year-ago period.
Revenue rose to US$15.68 billion from US$11.9 billion.
Analysts had expected Apple to earn US$2.09 per share on revenue of US$12.09 billion, Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S said, but it was not clear if the numbers were comparable given the surprise accounting change.
“There is a bit of confusion because the consensus numbers are somewhat meaningless [due to new accounting]. There is a state of confusion,” Kaufman Bros analyst Shaw Wu said. “What we do know is the iPhones were light. People were looking for closer to 9.5 [million].”
Apple forecast earnings for the current quarter of US$2.06 to US$2.18 a share on revenue of US$11 billion to US$11.4 billion. Wall Street analysts, on average, had expected earnings of US$1.77 a share on revenue of US$10.37 billion, but again it was unclear if those estimates were comparable.
Apple’s stock has more than doubled over the past 12 months. The stock rose above US$205 after closing at US$203.08 on Monday.
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
‘INVESTMENT’: Rubio and Arevalo said they discussed the value of democracy, and Rubio thanked the president for Guatemala’s strong diplomatic relationship with Taiwan Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Guatemala City on Wednesday where they signed a deal for Guatemala to accept migrants deported from the US, while Rubio commended Guatemala for its support for Taiwan and said the US would do all it can to facilitate greater Taiwanese investment in Guatemala. Under the migrant agreement announced by Arevalo, the deportees would be returned to their home countries at US expense. It is the second deportation deal that Rubio has reached during a Central America trip that has been focused mainly on immigration. Arevalo said his
‘SOVEREIGN AI’: As of Nov. 19 last year, Taiwan was globally ranked No. 11 for having computing power of 103 petaflops. The governments wants to achieve 1,200 by 2029 The government would intensify efforts to bolster its “Sovereign Artificial Intelligence [AI]” program by setting a goal of elevating the nation’s collective computing power in the public and private sectors to 1,200 peta floating points per second (petaflops) by 2029, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The goal was set to fulfill President William Lai’s (賴清德) vision of turning Taiwan into an “AI island.” Sovereign AI refers to a nation’s capabilities to produce AI using its own infrastructure, data, workforce and business networks. One petaflop allows 1 trillion calculations per second. As of Nov. 19 last year, Taiwan was globally ranked No. 11 for
Israel yesterday said it has begun preparations for the departure of large numbers of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in line with US President Donald Trump’s plan for the territory, while Egypt has launched a diplomatic blitz behind the scenes to try and head off the plan. The Trump administration has already dialed back aspects of the proposal after it was widely rejected internationally, saying the relocation of Palestinians would be temporary. US officials have provided few details about how or when the plan would be carried out. Trump yesterday said that Israel would turn Gaza over to the US after the