Apple earns $904 million on sales of $6.22 billion

[AppleInsider]

Apple said Monday that fourth-quarter profits rose 66 percent to $904 million, or $1.01 per diluted share, on sales of $6.22 billion for the three-month period ended September 29, 2007.

The results compare to revenue of $4.84 billion and net quarterly profit of $542 million, or $.62 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 33.6 percent, up from 29.2 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 40 percent of the quarter's revenue.

"We are very pleased to have generated over $24 billion in revenue and $3.5 billion in net income in fiscal 2007," said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. "We're looking forward to a strong December quarter as we enter the holiday season with Apple's best products ever."

Apple shipped 2,164,000 Macintosh computers, representing 34 percent growth over the year-ago quarter and exceeding the previous quarterly record for Mac shipments by 400,000. The Company sold 10,200,000 iPods during the quarter, representing 17 percent growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone sales were 1,119,000, bringing cumulative fiscal 2007 sales to 1,389,000.

"Apple ended the fiscal year with $15.4 billion in cash and no debt," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. "Looking ahead to the first quarter of fiscal 2008, we expect revenue of about $9.2 billion and earnings per diluted share of about $1.42."

Apple will provide live streaming of its Q4 2007 financial results conference call utilizing QuickTime beginning at 2:00 p.m. PDT. AppleInsider will provide its usual coverage (added: 1, 2).

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[freakboy]

Wow. Pretty good stuff! Nice to see the all-important market share # going up.

[mdriftmeyer]

$184.13 and rising.

[MacTel]

Wow, the rumor mill got it spot on again!

There seems to be a leak at the top at Apple.

[HyteProsector]

With that kind of cash in reserves, I'm thinking there will be a strong possibility that Apple will be interested in the FCC auction in Jan. '08

[domdn]

Where can I get after-hours prices? AAPL seems to beat or reach top-end of every estimate. Waiting to hear from confc income per iPhone/AT&T subscriber.

[mdriftmeyer]

Originally Posted by domdn

Where can I get after-hours prices? AAPL seems to beat or reach top-end of every estimate. Waiting to hear from confc income per iPhone/AT&T subscriber.

Turn on your stock channel: CNBC, or BBC Financials or whatever. They have them rolling.

[mdriftmeyer]

Originally Posted by HyteProsector

With that kind of cash in reserves, I'm thinking there will be a strong possibility that Apple will be interested in the FCC auction in Jan. '08

Imagine: Investing with Google to build a 50/50 Network of ownership. Provide services and pricing that gouges the competition and steal millions of clients.

[davebarnes]

I just read the 8K which is available on the Apple website. The numbers are awesome.

My personal favorite number is: desktop units up by 30%. Apple is still a computer company.

[melgross]

Some of theses analysts got it right after all.

[Booga]

These are wonderful numbers. However, don't they pretty much imply that Apple is selling their hardware at much higher price points than they could? I wonder at the elasticity of demand involved in Apple forgoing some profit in order to more rapidly pick up market share.

[mdriftmeyer]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

I just read the 8K which is available on the Apple website. The numbers are awesome.

My personal favorite number is: desktop units up by 30%. Apple is still a computer company.

Mine as well. This means more investment into the Workstation/Desktop will happen seeing as the demand is escalating. The laptop has been taking the lead of importance and now it's time to even that out a bit more with an improved desktop strategy.

Hopefully, they expand the iPhone/iPod line up with the future PDA/Tablet system.

[naas]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

mac 33.6 percent
ipod 17 percent growth and iphone 1,389,000.

This company is still alive mister dell

[mdriftmeyer]

Originally Posted by Booga

These are wonderful numbers. However, don't they pretty much imply that Apple is selling their hardware at much higher price points than they could? I wonder at the elasticity of demand involved in Apple forgoing some profit in order to more rapidly pick up market share.

It means Apple can sell their systems effectively at higher than projected margins. Apple continues to sell higher margin systems and grows market share that its competition can't duplicate.

HP has solid margins, but not Apple's. Dell has gouged it's margins to gain a large market share which has been eroded by HP and Apple.

[freeny]

Originally Posted by domdn

Where can I get after-hours prices? AAPL seems to beat or reach top-end of every estimate. Waiting to hear from confc income per iPhone/AT&T subscriber.

http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=AAPL

i believe there is a delay so anyone know of real time quotes please enlighten me

[Johnny Mozzarella]

At a glance...

Desktops 817,000 units sold = $1,195,000,000
Portables 1,347,000 units sold = $1,908,000,000
Subtotal CPUs 2,164,000 units sold = $3,103,000,000

iPod 10,200,000 units sold = $1,619,000,000
Other Music Related Products and Services $601,000,000
iPhone and Related Products & Services 1,119,000 units sold = $118,000,000
Peripherals and Other Hardware $346,000,000
Software, Service and Other Sales $430,000,000
Total Apple $6,217,000,000

[Booga]

Apple cash on hand is now 1/2 of Adobe's total market valuation. A few more quarters like this and Apple should just buy Adobe outright.

[markb]

How long were the revamped iMacs available in that quarter?

I have to think the next quarter is going to be huge. I know several people who are just waiting for 10.5 to ship to buy their first macs and I cant imagine they are the only ones who waited.

The down side of this incredible run is they will face more media scrutiny then ever. I cant count the number of shamelessly biased (mostly on the negative side) articles that I have seen. Such success will make them a lightning rod for media trolls.

[artman1033]

Everything is up except Japan. down 11%....................... What happened in Japan?

[nagromme]

The average analyst prediction was .85, according to this morning's AI article. Not even close to the actual 1.01.

Now watch for the negative headlines: "Apple fails to double analyst predictions."

[freakboy]

Originally Posted by nagromme

The average analyst prediction was .85, according to this morning's AI article. Not even close to the actual 1.01.

Now watch for the negative headlines: "Apple fails to double analyst predictions."

Apple's next quarter will be boosted by sales of Leopard, which I would guess they'll sell at least 5 miillion copies of. Add another 500+ million in revenue.

[Johnny Mozzarella]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

I just read the 8K which is available on the Apple website. The numbers are awesome.

My personal favorite number is: desktop units up by 30%. Apple is still a computer company.

The desktop line receives a bump in numbers every time a major new design comes out.
My guess is this has more to do with the recent iMac redesign than anything else.

[mdriftmeyer]

Originally Posted by nagromme

The average analyst prediction was .85, according to this morning's AI article. Not even close to the actual 1.01.

Now watch for the negative headlines: "Apple fails to double analyst predictions."

Those days are over. The stock is soaring in after hours trading. Analysts have had nothing but admiration to say about Apple and how it is such a well-oiled machine.

They were bullish on the Mac desktop sales being up over 30% [huge to them that their market is growing] and that 40% of the sales were outside the US [another strong indication that Apple is growing in new markets.]

[Booga]

Originally Posted by markb

The down side of this incredible run is they will face more media scrutiny then ever. I cant count the number of shamelessly biased (mostly on the negative side) articles that I have seen. Such success will make them a lightning rod for media trolls.

As someone who was an Apple user through the "beleaguered" 90's, I'll take it.

I sympathize, though. After all, the IT folks trained in nothing but Windows (and it's high support costs) are scared for their jobs, and the VoTech-style high schools who buy Microsoft because that's what businesses use must be wondering what they'll teach soon.

[mdriftmeyer]

Originally Posted by Johnny Mozzarella

The desktop line receives a bump in numbers every time a major new design comes out.
My guess is this has more to do with the recent iMac redesign than anything else.

Nope. You will be saying the same thing when the next quarter numbers come out? Or will it be, "It's the Christmas quarter, they always soar during the holidays?"

The bottom line: Apple is growing its customer base with new users.

Foreign sales are up. That has been the big lagging factor for Apple.

[macshark]

What is the hidden gem behind all these numbers is the "deferred revenue".

If you look at the financial statements:

http://images.apple.com/pr/pdf/q407fin_statements2.pdf

There is more than 1.4 billion dollars worth of "current" deferred revenue. 346 million of this is from "iPhone and Apple TV". Anyone knows what is the source of the 634 million dollars of the "other" deferred revenue?

Now let's look at the summary data from Apple website:

http://images.apple.com/pr/pdf/q407data_sum.pdf

Check out the line for "iPhone related products and services" near the bottom. It shows 1,119 million units sold, but the total recognized revenue is only $118 million! Apple is recognizing only $100 revenue per iPhone sold last quarter, despite the fact that they were getting additional incentives (~$150 according to the rumor mill) from AT&T.

It looks like Apple is using the "deferred revenue" trick to under-report the revenue and profits for a stellar quarter. The actual revenue would have been close to $7 billion and profits would have been in excess of a billion without revenue deferral.

Revenue deferral will most likely help balance out a few potential "not-so-great" quarters in the future (if that is possible) by spreading the loot from stellar quarters (like the current one) evenly over a longer period of time.

Bottomline: Last quarter was actually much better than what the top-level numbers in the earning release says. It will be interesting to hear the questions from analysts in the conference call.

[Johnny Mozzarella]

Originally Posted by artman1033

Everything is up except Japan. down 11%....................... What happened in Japan?

I believe Apple's 7 retail stores in Japan are siphoning off most of the sales from the region.

http://www.apple.com/retail/storelist/

[naas]

Originally Posted by freakboy

Apple's next quarter will be boosted by sales of Leopard, which I would guess they'll sell at least 5 miillion copies of. Add another 500+ million in revenue.

<a bit too early>And the following will be bost by the multi touch system</a bit too early>

[MacTel]

Originally Posted by artman1033

Everything is up except Japan. down 11%....................... What happened in Japan?

I still believe they need a subnotebook in Japan and Asian in general. The iMacs are getting bigger and space is a consideration when buying a system there. A 20" or 24" iMac might compete with their HD TVs, when they really want something they can fold away, when playing on their PS3 or Wii console.

[vinney57]

Boom! The profit margin is extraordinary for a company of Apple's size.

The upside of the Leopard launch will mean big numbers for next quarter as well.

Once upon a time I didn't want Apple to ever breach the 10% share for fear of losing the 'Appleness'

Now, what the hell. Before I die I fully expect to see Apple become the the largest computer manufacturer on the planet; and probably the largest media company.

[mdriftmeyer]

Originally Posted by freakboy

Apple's next quarter will be boosted by sales of Leopard, which I would guess they'll sell at least 5 miillion copies of. Add another 500+ million in revenue.

That would presume 5 million of the pre-existing Tiger/earlier revisions upgrading on existing hardware.

Combine that with 2.5 million plus new hardware purchases and you have an installed base of 7.5 million plus for Leopard.

I'm not sure about those numbers.

I'd expect 5 million purchases of Leopard by June for pre-existing Tiger hardware owners.

[Nicnac]

a question... WHO THE HELL IS BUYING ALL THESE MACHINES? They cost more than they have in years, and as far as I know, more people are hurting financially these days then were hurting a few years ago. I can't imagine people are losing their homes/jobs etc and are eyeing $2000 computers. What do sales to colleges and institutions mean for us?

Also, I imagine Apple is now going to be sued for something every other day instead of every other week.

[digitalclips]

Originally Posted by Booga

Apple cash on hand is now 1/2 of Adobe's total market valuation. A few more quarters like this and Apple should just buy Adobe outright.

Yes! ... and get 'MacPaint' back in house

[vinney57]

Originally Posted by macshark

What is the hidden gem behind all these numbers is the "deferred revenue".

If you look at the financial statements:

http://images.apple.com/pr/pdf/q407fin_statements2.pdf

There is more than 1.4 billion dollars worth of "current" deferred revenue. 346 million of this is from "iPhone and Apple TV". Anyone knows what is the source of the 634 million dollars of the "other" deferred revenue?

Now let's look at the summary data from Apple website:

http://images.apple.com/pr/pdf/q407data_sum.pdf

Check out the line for "iPhone related products and services" near the bottom. It shows 1,119 million units sold, but the total recognized revenue is only $118 million! Apple is recognizing only $100 revenue per iPhone sold last quarter, despite the fact that they were getting additional incentives (~$150 according to the rumor mill) from AT&T.

It looks like Apple is using the "deferred revenue" trick to under-report the revenue and profits for a stellar quarter. The actual revenue would have been close to $7 billion and profits would have been in excess of a billion without revenue deferral.

Revenue deferral will most likely help balance out a few potential "not-so-great" quarters in the future (if that is possible) by spreading the loot from stellar quarters (like the current one) evenly over a longer period of time.

Bottomline: Last quarter was actually much better than what the top-level numbers in the earning release says. It will be interesting to hear the questions from analysts in the conference call.

There is nothing nefarious going on here. This sort of 'subscription' accounting is now required for hardware/software combination products that you intend to significantly update over the life of the product.

Besides Apple won't be having any 'not so great' quarters.

[freeny]

Originally Posted by nagromme

The average analyst prediction was .85, according to this morning's AI article. Not even close to the actual 1.01.

Now watch for the negative headlines: "Apple fails to double analyst predictions."

already done- http://money.cnn.com/2007/10/22/tech...ings/index.htm

quote-
These sales figures came in a bit below what Caris & Co. analyst Shebly Seyrafi was expecting though. In a research note before Apple's results were released, he wrote that he was projecting sales of 1.4 million iPhones and 11.5 million iPods in the quarter.

[mdriftmeyer]

Originally Posted by Nicnac

a question... WHO THE HELL IS BUYING ALL THESE MACHINES? They cost more than they have in years, and as far as I know, more people are hurting financially these days then were hurting a few years ago. I can't imagine people are losing their homes/jobs etc and are eyeing $2000 computers. What do sales to colleges and institutions mean for us?

Also, I imagine Apple is now going to be sued for something every other day instead of every other week.

Global Markets are up in valuations. People who sign zero day mortgages aren't investing heavily in Computers.

Organizations are re-evaluating their system strategies across the board.

Computers are LESS EXPENSIVE TODAY THAN THEY HAVE BEEN AT ANY TIME.

If you think these systems cost more today than you have an odd sense of Valuation.

I spent over $4000 on a 486dx/2 piece of trash with 8 MB of RAM in 1990. The average income back then was far less.

What you can't understand is how Apple can increase their margins while the rest of the industry is gashing their margins to subsist.

Apple is in it's own market.

When Motherboard designers produce Intel boards/AMD boards as clean as Apple's designs with tower cases as well integrated, designed and built you'll see people willing to spend more money on them.

WalMart is leaking valuation because it's Cheaper is always Better has ran it's course. WalMart knows this and has spent hundreds of millions in a brand new marketing campaign to get away from that mantra.

Perceived long-term value is what makes Apple continue to grow.

With OS X coming to a level that clearly beats up on Microsoft, combined with Mac Hardware running XP/Vista better than third party clone hardware designed to run Windows, you'll continue to see more converts to Mac Hardware.

[minderbinder]

Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer

It means Apple can sell their systems effectively at higher than projected margins. Apple continues to sell higher margin systems and grows market share that its competition can't duplicate.

HP has solid margins, but not Apple's. Dell has gouged it's margins to gain a large market share which has been eroded by HP and Apple.

Not to mention that higher profits mean more money to put toward R&D, meaning more ability to create new products and innovative features.

[dreamraj]

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq407/

Is anyone being able to listen in? I can't get through!!

[domdn]

Yup, sitting here in London getting nothing from the QT link for the conf call. Bugger.

[domdn]

Although with numbers like these, the whole world and his wife are probably tuned in...