Apple Rebounds!

Apple not only released the new Vision Pro this week but also their 1st Quarter financial statements.  The holiday quarter is usually Apple’s strongest and they posted year over year growth despite the fact that last year the quarter had 14 weeks and this year only 13 weeks to post sales.   For the quarter, Apple posted revenue of $119.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $33.9 billion, or $2.18 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $117.2 billion and net quarterly profit of $30.0 billion, or $1.88 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.  Analysts had predicted about $118 billion and $2.09 per share profit so Apple handily beat the street.  After four quarters of declining revenue Apple is back up on the upswing and benefited from release at the end of the previous quarter of the iPhone 15, the Apple Watch Series 9, and Ultra 2, updated AirPods Pro 2 and  M3 Macs, including the 24-inch iMac, 14-inch MacBook Pro, and 16-inch MacBook Pro.

Gross margin for the quarter was 45.9 percent, compared to 43.0 percent in the year-ago quarter. Apple also declared a quarterly dividend payment of $0.24 per share, payable on February 15 to shareholders of record as of February 12.

“Today Apple is reporting revenue growth for the December quarter fueled by iPhone sales, and an all-time revenue record in Services,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We are pleased to announce that our installed base of active devices has now surpassed 2.2 billion, reaching an all-time high across all products and geographic segments. And as customers begin to experience the incredible Apple Vision Pro tomorrow, we are committed as ever to the pursuit of groundbreaking innovation — in line with our values and on behalf of our customers.”

Simply amazing to realize that Apple has over 2.2 billion devices active across the planet.  Revenue was varied among Apple’s offerings. Apple’s iPhone revenue soared to  $69.7 billion (built on strength of iPhone 15) and was up from the $65.78 billion a year ago. Mac revenue also was up a bit $7.78 billion compared last year’s $7.74 billion.  iPad sales fell from $9.4 billion one year prior to $7.023 billion this quarter. Wearables, Home, and Accessories was down a bit at  $11.95 billion, down from last year’s $13.48 billion. Services, usually a strong growth sector, saw revenue increase  from $20.77 billion in Q1 2023 to $23.117 in the these 1st quarter results.

Analysts were concerned about some declines in the China market in the midst of some economic challenges in China. Tim Cook said”

“If you look at ‌iPhone‌ in China mainland, which I think has been the focus of a lot of interest, and you look at it in constant currency, so more of an operational view, we were down mid-single digits on ‌iPhone‌. And so it was the other things that drove the larger contraction year over year. On the good news side, we had solid growth on upgraders year over year in mainland China and we had four of the top six smartphone models in urban China.”

All in all it was a very strong quarter for Apple and with the release of the Vision Pro Apple has a good week ahead!  Congratulations to the entire Apple team!