iPhone Drives Apple Over the Street

Apple announced their 2nd quarter financial results after the market closed on Thursday and posted a rebound quarter with $94.3 billion in revenue for the 3-month period ending in March.  While that is lower than the revenue a year ago when riding on new product releases at that time, Apple posted $97.8 billion in sales.  However, it was ahead of analysts’ expectations and considerably above the gloom and doom predictions.  That $94.3 billion in income drove an amazing $24.1 billion in profit or about $1.52 per diluted share.   In terms of profit, Apple’s results were about the same as a year ago for the quarter.

Mac sales were down from $10.4 billion to $7.2 billion which reflects the trends in the personal computer space, iPad also saw a decline from $7.6 billion to $6.7 billion.   On the brighter side of the ledger, iPhone posted $51.3 billion in sales which was a year-over-year increase from last year.   Services continued to shine with its high margins and close to 1 billion subscriptions and posted $20.9 billion in revenue.  Wearables stayed steady.

“We are pleased to report an all-time record in Services and a March quarter record for iPhone despite the challenging macroeconomic environment, and to have our installed base of active devices reach an all-time high,” said Tim Cook. “We continue to invest for the long term and lead with our values, including making major progress toward building carbon-neutral products and supply chains by 2030.”

Apple’s board of directors declared an increased dividend of $0.24 per share (a 4% increase) and authorized an additional $90 billion in stock buy-backs.

India is becoming more important and that relatively untapped market for Apple products in the soon-to-be most populous country in the world (1.4 billion people!) is a huge market in which that Apple is just now starting to make headway.  Tim Cook recognized the growing middle class in India and spoke about the great potential not only for products but especially for services in the country. With Apple’s emphasis on China and India they are focused on nearly 40% of the world’s population in areas that are showing remarkable growth in middle class wealth.

A great rebound quarter for Apple and congratulations to the entire Apple team!