Wall Street regularly braces itself each quarter when it’s time for Apple to report earnings again, a release that’s always closely watched and the subject of much prognostication and analysis. Ahead of the iPhone maker’s new results that just hit with the close of markets, though, it’s probably fair to say the stakes were a bit higher than normal this time around. Investors were pretty eager to get more of a read on how Apple’s services business is faring, giving that the company is placing a greater emphasis there as a revenue-generator (additionally,
Revenue for the quarter hit $91 billion, bringing closer into sight a $100 billion quarter for the company. That was up 9% from the year-ago quarter and sets an all-time record for the company, with quarterly earnings per share also setting another all-time record ($4.99, up 19%).
Apple says that international sales accounted for 61% of the quarter’s revenue. All the more impressive, when you consider this was achieved at the height of trade tensions. And, of course, iPhone sales led the way.
“We are thrilled to report Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever, fueled by strong demand for our iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro models, and all-time records for Services and Wearables,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. “During the holiday quarter our active installed base of devices grew in each of our geographic segments and has now reached over 1.5 billion. We see this as a powerful testament to the satisfaction, engagement and loyalty of our customers — and a great driver of our growth across the board.”
Not only did Apple turn in solid performance for the holiday quarter, but the iPhone maker also gave bullish guidance for its upcoming quarter, estimating revenue to fall somewhere between $63 billion and $67 billion. Accordingly, Apple was up more than 2% in after-hours trading in the initial moments following the earnings release. “It was sort of a blockbuster quarter all the way around,” Cook told CNBC this afternoon.
Other key points to note:
- Apple’s increasingly important services business that includes subscription offerings like
Apple TV +, climbed 17% to $12.7 billion for the quarter. - Apple says it now has more than 1.5 billion active devices in use, up from 1.4 billion the company previously recorded. That’s up over 100 million in the last 12 months.
- Apple does most of its manufacturing in China, where the Coronavirus is still spreading. Even though Cook a few moments ago on the company’s earnings call said that China has returned to a growing market for the company, Apple is restricting travel there, has closed one store there and cut back on store hours there also.
“
One analyst pressed Cook on how Apple is gauging success regarding