Apple blows away Wall Street earnings estimates, even with weak China iPhone sales

Posted:
in AAPL Investors edited May 3

Apple has released its financial results for the Q2 2024 quarter, with earnings beating predictions despite China iPhone fears.

The back of an iPhone 15 Pro Max against a white brick background
Apple beat earnings estimates



Following after the improved Q1 2024 results, Apple has issued its Q2 results. Typically the second quarter figures are lower than Q1 and its high quarterly sales.

The figures were released on Tuesday, ahead of the customary analyst and investor conference call. During the call, CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri are expected to expand on the figures and comments made in the results release.

For the second quarter, Apple's revenue reached $90.75 billion, down from the $94.8 billion reported in Q2 2023. The earnings per share of $1.53 is up from $1.52 in the year-ago quarter.

The Wall Street consensus expected Apple to land at a low estimate of $82.32 billion and a high estimate of $86.15 billion, with an EPS of $1.50.

Apple Revenue and Net Profit, as of Q2 2024
Apple Revenue and Net Profit, as of Q2 2024



As the post-holiday quarter, there were comparatively fewer product introductions. There was February's release of the Apple Vision Pro, but it is being sold in relatively low numbers, at least compared to Apple's other product categories.

There were also M3 Apple Silicon updates to the MacBook Air range.

For Q2 2024, iPhone hauled in $45.96 billion, down from $51.3 billion for Q2 2023. Mac stayed relatively flat, going from $7.2 billion one year ago to $7.45 billion this time.

iPad moved from $6.7 billion to $5.56 billion, and Wearables, Home, and Accessories shifted from $8.76 billion in Q2 2023 to $7.9 billion. Services, the constantly reliably growing sector, moved from $20.9 billion in Q2 2023 to $23.9 billion this time around.

Apple's 2024 Q2 as a Sankey chart
Apple's 2024 Q2 as a Sankey chart



"During the quarter, we were thrilled to launch Apple Vision Pro and to show the world the potential that spatial computing unlocks," said CEO Tim Cook. "We're also looking forward to an exciting product announcement next week and an incredible Worldwide Developers Conference next month."

"Thanks to very high levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty, our active installed base of devices has reached a new all-time high across all products and all geographic segments, and our business performance drove a new EPS record for the March quarter," said Luca Maestri.

As part of the release, Apple's Board has also authorized another $110 billion in share buybacks.

More details will be released about Apple's quarterly fortunes during the analyst call.



Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 16
    iPhone mini put it back 
    williamlondonspock1234entropys
  • Reply 2 of 16
    PancakePancake Posts: 44member
    Apple is doomed?
    edited May 2 Anilu_777Alex_V
  • Reply 3 of 16
    mikethemartianmikethemartian Posts: 1,359member
    You also have to account for the 3% to 3.5% inflation from Jan, Feb, Mar 2023 to Jan, Feb, Mar 2024 earnings, respectively.
    jas99MisterKitwilliamlondon9secondkox2
  • Reply 4 of 16
    NickoTTNickoTT Posts: 11member
    Thank you Tim Apple and company. Love my Apple!
    jas99lotones
  • Reply 5 of 16
    geomac25geomac25 Posts: 15member
    Once again, Apple slays the Doomsayers! Long Live Apple!!
    dewmeCoulejas99zeus423Anilu_777
  • Reply 6 of 16
    greginpraguegreginprague Posts: 485member
    You also have to account for the 3% to 3.5% inflation from Jan, Feb, Mar 2023 to Jan, Feb, Mar 2024 earnings, respectively.
    Inflation of what?  As far as I know Apple hasn’t raised the prices for any of their core products.
    williamlondon9secondkox2zeus423Alex1Nspock1234Anilu_777
  • Reply 7 of 16
    Very strange moment where Tesla and Apple "blow away" with their "weak" performance.

    It may be a "better than expected" result, but it is not a healthy reaction of the stock market. 

    Apple announces $110 billion buyback which currently drives the stock up. 


    ronn
  • Reply 8 of 16
    You also have to account for the 3% to 3.5% inflation from Jan, Feb, Mar 2023 to Jan, Feb, Mar 2024 earnings, respectively.
    Inflation of what?  As far as I know Apple hasn’t raised the prices for any of their core products.
    By accounting the inflation, their revenues would be more down.
    jas99
  • Reply 9 of 16
    Clearly a challenging quarter on the hardware side and the story seems to be repeating over the last few quarters.
    The services story is becoming increasingly pronounced and thus a source of exposure given the anti-trust activities looking to unlock the walled garden and threaten the partnership with Google.

    All things being equal then Services may get into relative gross margin contribution parity with hardware in Q3 2025. 
    Below is my calcs on the recent quarterly results for services. Errors may be in there :)

    MetricCurrent Year (March 30, 2024)Previous Year (April 1, 2023)Year-on-Year Increase (%)
    Services Revenue (million USD)23,86720,90714.16
    Cost of Services (million USD)6,0586,065-0.12
    Absolute Gross Profit (million USD)17,80914,84219.99
    Gross Margin (%)74.6270.995.11
    Relative Gross Margin Contribution (%)42.1335.3619.15
    williamlondonddawson100ramanpfaffAlex1NAnilu_777
  • Reply 10 of 16
    ddawson100ddawson100 Posts: 516member
    You also have to account for the 3% to 3.5% inflation from Jan, Feb, Mar 2023 to Jan, Feb, Mar 2024 earnings, respectively.
    Inflation of what?  As far as I know Apple hasn’t raised the prices for any of their core products.
    By accounting the inflation, their revenues would be more down.
    Whatever on earth? Purchasing power is eroded by inflation but $1 (or € £ ¥) is still $1. If they collected $90 billion how should they report this, accounting for inflation? Shouldn’t they say they collected a dollar if they collected a dollar? 

    Also, Massive Attack is simply amazing.
    muthuk_vanalingamwilliamlondonronnmike1
  • Reply 11 of 16
    40domi40domi Posts: 98member
    It's not as bad as predicted, but it's still a continued down trend, more and more Apple fans are becoming disillusioned with Apple holding back on exciting upgrades, doing just enough will not last long.
    I expect them to go all in with the 16 Pro's and then the M4 Mac's later this year, unless they get us excited again this autum, this downward trend will continue!
    Alex1Ngatorguygrandact73
  • Reply 12 of 16
    mikethemartianmikethemartian Posts: 1,359member
    You also have to account for the 3% to 3.5% inflation from Jan, Feb, Mar 2023 to Jan, Feb, Mar 2024 earnings, respectively.
    Inflation of what?  As far as I know Apple hasn’t raised the prices for any of their core products.
    $94.8B in early 2023 is the equivalent of 94.8B(1.03)=$97.6B in early 2024, so the inflation corrected percentage change in revenue is actually ((90.75-97.6)/97.6)*100=-7.0%. You have to at least beat inflation to have a true growth in wealth.
    Alex1Nwonkothesanewilliamlondongrandact73
  • Reply 13 of 16
    spock1234spock1234 Posts: 161member
    iPhone mini put it back 
    This! We need a Pro level iPhone in the mini form factor to juice sales again. I was holding on to my 13 mini, waiting for the update that never came. I got myself a 13 Pro due to a carrier promotion, but haven't even considered the 14 or the 15 because neither offered a mini version. C'mon Tim, make it happen with the 16! 
    Anilu_777williamlondon
  • Reply 14 of 16
    davidwdavidw Posts: 2,068member
    You also have to account for the 3% to 3.5% inflation from Jan, Feb, Mar 2023 to Jan, Feb, Mar 2024 earnings, respectively.
    Inflation of what?  As far as I know Apple hasn’t raised the prices for any of their core products.
    $94.8B in early 2023 is the equivalent of 94.8B(1.03)=$97.6B in early 2024, so the inflation corrected percentage change in revenue is actually ((90.75-97.6)/97.6)*100=-7.0%. You have to at least beat inflation to have a true growth in wealth.

    Not only does it make zero sense to compensate for inflation, when comparing year to year "revenue" numbers, you have it backwards.

    Since there was 3-3.5% inflation from JanFebMar of 2023 to JanFebMar of 2024 (as you stated), shouldn't the 3-3.5% affect the 2024 numbers and not the 2023 numbers?
    So shouldn't you be increasing the 2024 revenue numbers due to any loss "value" of the dollar from inflation, when comparing them to 2023 numbers. The 3-3.5% inflation rate from 2023 to 2024 had zero affect on 2023 dollars. If anything, the 2022 to 2023 inflation rate affected 2023 dollars. 

    So applying the illogical thinking that the inflation rate should be included when comparing year to year revenue numbers, 2024 revenue of $90.75B would actually be $93.5B ($90.75 x 1.03) in 2023, if it weren't for the 3-3.5% inflation that occurred from 2023 to2024.

    And "revenue would not the measurement of "wealth". Profit would be the measurement of  "wealth". In Q2 of 2023 net income was $24.16B, compared to $23.26B in Q2 of 2024. That's a decrease of $.9B from 2023 or 3.7%. So with inflation at 3.5%, could we say that when accounting for inflation, Apple managed to make almost the same profit in Q2 2024 as in Q2 2023. Of course we wouldn't.

    Inflation do not increase the value of yesterdays dollar, it decreases the buying power of today's dollar. A dollar is still a dollar.  
    edited May 2 Anilu_777wonkothesanewilliamlondonronnmike1
  • Reply 15 of 16
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,912member
    40domi said:
    It's not as bad as predicted, but it's still a continued down trend, more and more Apple fans are becoming disillusioned with Apple holding back on exciting upgrades, doing just enough will not last long.
    I expect them to go all in with the 16 Pro's and then the M4 Mac's later this year, unless they get us excited again this autum, this downward trend will continue!
    This is nonsense. First of all, most of their consumers are not Apple fans dependent on the new shiny to provide life meaning. Second of all, the idea Apple is willfully “holding back” on excitement or upgrades is absurd. 

    Better explanation of the modest dip — last year everybody was buying devices after a couple years of chilling during a global pandemic you may have heard about. This year we aren’t and the devices of last year are fine for most people. 
    gatorguy
  • Reply 16 of 16
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,191member
    spock1234 said:
    iPhone mini put it back 
    This! We need a Pro level iPhone in the mini form factor to juice sales again. I was holding on to my 13 mini, waiting for the update that never came. I got myself a 13 Pro due to a carrier promotion, but haven't even considered the 14 or the 15 because neither offered a mini version. C'mon Tim, make it happen with the 16! 
    Can’t seem to be able to buy a 13 mini new, although there are still 12 minis about.
    just got a 13 mini refurb. Not a mark on it but battery only 84%.. 
Sign In or Register to comment.