Apple Falls After Missing on Revenue; iPhone Sales Come in at 47.8M

Apple

reported fiscal first quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations despite weaker than expected revenue. Shares slid in post-market trading on the news. For the first quarter of fiscal year 2013 ended December 31, Apple reported earnings per share of $13.81, higher than analyst estimates of earnings per share of $13.41. The company had guided for the quarter earnings per share of $11.75 on revenue of $52 billion. In the same period a year ago, Apple earned $13.87 per share. On the revenue side, Apple reported first quarter revenue of $54.51 billion, worse than analyst forecasts of $54.73 billion. In the quarter, gross margins fell to 38.6 percent from 44.7 percent and international sales made up 61 percent of revenue. The company sold a record 47.8 million iPhones in the quarter, compared to 37 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple also sold a record 22.9 million iPads during the quarter, compared to 15.4 million in the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 4.1 million Macs, compared to 5.2 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 12.7 million iPods in the quarter, compared to 15.4 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple also declared a new cash dividend of $2.65 payable on February 14 to shareholders of record as of February 11. For the second quarter, Apple is guiding for revenue between $41 and $43 billion. Also, they expect gross margins to continue to fall to between 37.5 and 38.5 percent. Apple added $6 billion to its cash position in the quarter. “We're thrilled with record revenue of over $54 billion and sales of over 75 million iOS devices in a single quarter,” said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. “We're very confident in our product pipeline as we continue to focus on innovation and making the best products in the world.” “We're pleased to have generated over $23 billion in cash flow from operations during the quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. “We established new all-time quarterly records for iPhone and iPad sales, significantly broadened our ecosystem, and generated Apple's highest quarterly revenue ever.” Apple shares declined in after-market trading to $489.01 per share, a decline of 4.75 percent after rising 1.86 percent during trading hours. Apple's investor call begins at 5 pm eastern time.