Apple posts strong $45.4 billion in revenue on growing sales of 41 million iPhones

Posted:
in AAPL Investors edited August 2017
Apple again saw its sales grow year over year in the June quarter, the company revealed on Tuesday, with $45.4 billion in revenue exceeding Wall Street expectations, again driven by strong iPhone sales, but also growth in its iPad and Mac businesses.




Apple's quarterly earnings per diluted share for third fiscal quarter of 2017 were $1.67. iPhone sales for the period reached 41 million, up from 40.4 million the year prior.

That was in comparison to market expectations of $44.9 billion in revenue and 40.8 million iPhone sales for the three-month span, allowing Apple to beat market projections.

iPad sales were also strong in the quarter, reaching 11.4 million units. Apple launched three new iPad models this year, including two new iPad Pros in the June quarter.




The 11.4 million iPad sales were up from 10 million a year ago, and 8.9 million in the preceding March quarter.

As for the Mac, sales were 4.3 million, up slightly from the same period in 2016. Sales of the Mac were also up from 4.2 million in the March 2017 quarter.

Mac sales were also bolstered by new MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs and iMacs that debuted at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

In all, earnings per share grew 17 percent year over year, from $1.42 in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 61 percent of the quarters' revenue, and gross margin was 38.5 percent.

"With revenue up 7 percent year-over-year, we're happy to report our third consecutive quarter of accelerating growth and an all-time quarterly record for Services revenue," Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said. "We hosted an incredibly successful Worldwide Developers Conference in June, and we're very excited about the advances in iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS coming this fall."

While investors are likely to be pleased with the strong performance by Apple in the June quarter, all eyes are now focused squarely on the current September frame, during which the company is expected to unveil its next-generation iPhones. However, if they do launch in the quarter, it likely won't be until the very end, having a relatively small impact on the period.

For its fiscal 2017 fourth quarter, Apple provided the following guidance:
  • revenue between $49 billion and $52 billion
  • gross margin between 37.5 percent and 38 percent
  • operating expenses between $6.7 billion and $6.8 billion
  • other income/(expense) of $500 million
  • tax rate of 25.5 percent
"We reported unit and revenue growth in all our product categories in the June quarter, driving 17 percent growth in earnings per share," Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestr said. "We also returned $11.7 billion to investors during the quarter, bringing cumulative capital returns under our program to almost $223 billion."

Apple's board of directors also declared a cash dividend of $0.63 per share of the company's common stock. The dividend is payable on Aug. 17 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on Aug. 14.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 33
    steven n.steven n. Posts: 1,229member
    There goes the stock. Better than expected so the analysts won't know how they could have gotten so wrong resulting in massive downgrades of AAPL.
    jony0macseekerbshankanton zuykov
  • Reply 2 of 33
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,876member
    This is terrible news. Further proof that Cook is a terrible CEO and Apple's ability to design, build, and sell products people value left with Jobs as the WSJ and Bloomberg articles are eager to remind us.

    Not.
    Metriacanthosaurusrob53jony0anomejcdinkinsuniscaperonnanton zuykovmacxpresspscooter63
  • Reply 3 of 33
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    1) Nice after hours bump in the stock price.

    2) Cook proves once again that AAPL is undervalued by Wall Street and he's underpaid.
    edited August 2017 tmayjony0ronnbshankretrogustoanton zuykovpscooter63watto_cobralolliverpalomine
  • Reply 4 of 33
    However, if they do launch in the quarter, it likely won't be until the very end, having a relatively small impact on the period.

    For its fiscal 2017 fourth quarter, Apple provided the following guidance:
    • revenue between $49 billion and $52 billion
    I'm trying to understand this -- projected revenue for next quarter which ends September, which means approximately 8 days of new iPhones sales if they go on sale Friday, September 22nd:

    52 billion on the high end.

    Up from 45 billion this past quarter.

    How is that a "relatively small impact on the period"? Surely this includes some new iPhone launch revenue?
    edited August 2017 bshanklolliverpalomine
  • Reply 5 of 33
    NY1822NY1822 Posts: 621member
    and it only gets better...we are in the black and white tv era compared to where we will be in the next 2-3 years...augmented reality will have the same impact as the app store
    watto_cobralolliverpalomine
  • Reply 6 of 33
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    A very good quarter. iPad strategy seems to have worked. If they can maintain sales increases going forward, it will take pressure of iPhone sales, as those sales have had to make up for declining iPad sales.

    it’s good guidance for next quarter, though how much of it is due to expected increases in iPad sales rather than an on time iPhone 8, I don’t know. How much Apple will relate to us during the conference call starting in 5 minutes, I don’t know. Hopefully I’ll find out during the call.
    bshankdick applebaumwatto_cobralolliverSpamSandwichpalomine
  • Reply 7 of 33
    5150iii5150iii Posts: 96member
    Big after hours bump! Good to see that the hand-wringing was overstated. iPads crushed it! 
    watto_cobrapalomine
  • Reply 8 of 33
    anomeanome Posts: 1,533member

    Apple is D00M3D!!1! </obligatory>

    Of course, we still haven't seen the latest iPhone Killer (This time for sure!) from Samsung. No doubt that will rock Apple to its core, tainting the almost certain continued growth in iPhone sales.

    watto_cobrapalomine
  • Reply 9 of 33
    jcdinkinsjcdinkins Posts: 114member
    This is terrible news. Further proof that Cook is a terrible CEO and Apple's ability to design, build, and sell products people value left with Jobs as the WSJ and Bloomberg articles are eager to remind us.

    Not.
    Bloomberg and Forbes are the worst.  Consistently trashing Apple.  Big win for longs today and the future looks great.
    bshankmacky the mackypatchythepiratepscooter63watto_cobrapalomineanton zuykov
  • Reply 10 of 33
    saareksaarek Posts: 1,523member
    Nice to see that the iPad has finally bottomed out.
    macky the mackynetmageSpamSandwichwatto_cobrapalomineanton zuykov
  • Reply 11 of 33
    macseekermacseeker Posts: 545member
    saarek said:
    Nice to see that the iPad has finally bottomed out.
    Yeah. Sometime during the fall I'll be getting a new iPad.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 33
    scartartscartart Posts: 201member
    However, if they do launch in the quarter, it likely won't be until the very end, having a relatively small impact on the period.

    For its fiscal 2017 fourth quarter, Apple provided the following guidance:
    • revenue between $49 billion and $52 billion
    I'm trying to understand this -- projected revenue for next quarter which ends September, which means approximately 8 days of new iPhones sales if they go on sale Friday, September 22nd:

    52 billion on the high end.

    Up from 45 billion this past quarter.

    How is that a "relatively small impact on the period"? Surely this includes some new iPhone launch revenue?
    Pointless comparing Q4 to Q3, each quarter have very different sales cycles. Yes the quarter will contain a few days of new iPhone sales, but it does every year.

    Q4 2016 was $46.9 billion so Apple is certainly expecting some growth in revenue. Some of that will be on-going increases in services revenues but clearly some is from new products. If we assume it is iPhone related, Apple either expect it to do better than the iPhone 7 or they plan to launch earlier to get more sales into the quarter. One thing it hopefully suggests is that there won't be a delay or shortage of phones at launch.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 33
    JanNLJanNL Posts: 327member
    What a hero Tim Cook is. (listening to him in the conference call, he sounds clear and precise)
    edited August 2017 watto_cobraequality72521
  • Reply 14 of 33
    macseeker said:
    saarek said:
    Nice to see that the iPad has finally bottomed out.
    Yeah. Sometime during the fall I'll be getting a new iPad.
    Me too. iPads and larger iPhones are the 'future!' I wish the iPad and the larger iPad Pro came in Rose Gold. :)

    watto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 33
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    scartart said:
    However, if they do launch in the quarter, it likely won't be until the very end, having a relatively small impact on the period.

    For its fiscal 2017 fourth quarter, Apple provided the following guidance:
    • revenue between $49 billion and $52 billion
    I'm trying to understand this -- projected revenue for next quarter which ends September, which means approximately 8 days of new iPhones sales if they go on sale Friday, September 22nd:

    52 billion on the high end.

    Up from 45 billion this past quarter.

    How is that a "relatively small impact on the period"? Surely this includes some new iPhone launch revenue?
    One thing it hopefully suggests is that there won't be a delay or shortage of phones at launch.
    I think that's guaranteed to happen. If it doesn't it likely means something bad over something good.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 33
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    But… but the new MacBook Pro was supposed to sink the company!
    Solimacxpresspscooter63watto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 33
    jdgazjdgaz Posts: 404member
    Happy to have made a contribution to those revenues this quarter. 2 watch bands, 1 iPad pro, family music service, and some cloud stage. As for next quarter?????
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 33
    78Bandit78Bandit Posts: 238member
    Tim Cook isn't holding out any huge hope for the 4th quarter.  In 2015 the 4th quarter revenue was $51.5 billion.  Even at the top end of his estimates they will barely beat where they were two years ago.  I'm thinking the new iPhone isn't going to launch before October 1.  That kind of stagnant revenue growth is more likely from the launch of the 7S as opposed to the 8.  At what is anticipated to be an entry price of $1,000 I would think the iPhone 8 would have a larger impact than the tail end of the 6 and the introduction of the 6S did two years ago even if unit sales are down.

    iPhone unit sales for the quarter aren't anything to write home about either.  While it isn't a drop like last quarter, the number of units only increased 1.5% from the same quarter last year.  When compared to 3rd quarter 2015 though, sales have dropped from 47.5 million to 41 million which is a 13.7% decreased.  Revenue in 2015 was also quite a bit higher at $49.6 billion.

    Basically 2017 was slightly better than 2016, but it is substantially worse than 2015 when the iPhone 6 was out.
  • Reply 19 of 33
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    However, if they do launch in the quarter, it likely won't be until the very end, having a relatively small impact on the period.

    For its fiscal 2017 fourth quarter, Apple provided the following guidance:
    • revenue between $49 billion and $52 billion
    I'm trying to understand this -- projected revenue for next quarter which ends September, which means approximately 8 days of new iPhones sales if they go on sale Friday, September 22nd:

    52 billion on the high end.

    Up from 45 billion this past quarter.

    How is that a "relatively small impact on the period"? Surely this includes some new iPhone launch revenue?
    It’s a back to school quarter, so results are normally up. The question is what Apple would guide to. If below $49 billion, then it’s expected that the iPhone 8 would be delayed. Above that, then it’s expected to be on time. One week could be anywhere from 4 to 8 million in presales and sales, for that one model alone. Multiply by an ASP of $680, and you get a big number for a week, or so. If the phone is delayed, then that number isn’t there.

    but my thinking here is that with iPad sales up over 14%, a big part of that optimistic quidance could be to that, rather than whether the iPhone 8 is delayed, or not. So it’s still hard to tell. I could not gather anything from the conference call about that, as expected.
  • Reply 20 of 33
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member

    scartart said:
    However, if they do launch in the quarter, it likely won't be until the very end, having a relatively small impact on the period.

    For its fiscal 2017 fourth quarter, Apple provided the following guidance:
    • revenue between $49 billion and $52 billion
    I'm trying to understand this -- projected revenue for next quarter which ends September, which means approximately 8 days of new iPhones sales if they go on sale Friday, September 22nd:

    52 billion on the high end.

    Up from 45 billion this past quarter.

    How is that a "relatively small impact on the period"? Surely this includes some new iPhone launch revenue?
    Pointless comparing Q4 to Q3, each quarter have very different sales cycles. Yes the quarter will contain a few days of new iPhone sales, but it does every year.

    Q4 2016 was $46.9 billion so Apple is certainly expecting some growth in revenue. Some of that will be on-going increases in services revenues but clearly some is from new products. If we assume it is iPhone related, Apple either expect it to do better than the iPhone 7 or they plan to launch earlier to get more sales into the quarter. One thing it hopefully suggests is that there won't be a delay or shortage of phones at launch.
    Consecutive quarters are compared for the trend line. If the trend is different, then that’s important. It’s understood that each quarter is different.
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