Apple Has Just Reported its Fiscal Q4 2013 Results - iPhone Sales Set a New Fiscal Q4 Record

Apple has just delivered on its financial results for its fiscal Q4 2013 quarter, which ended on September 28, 2013. Apple posted quarterly revenue of $37.5 billion and a quarterly net profit of $7.5 billion - $8.26 per share. For the same quarter in 2012, Apple had revenue of $36 billion and net profit of $8.2 billion - $8.67 per share. The numbers are all in line with estimates and reflect anticipated lower gross margins of 37 percent for the current quarter as compared to 40 percent last year.

Apple noted that international sales accounted for 60 percent of the quarter’s revenue. Apple’s Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $3.05 per share for its common stock, which is payable on November 14, 2013, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on November 11, 2013.

As expected, Apple beat estimates for sales and revenue. Apple also set a new record for fiscal Q4 sales of iPhones - that sometimes nebulous period that falls typically just after new products are announced and before the usually massive holiday quarter kicks in. For the current quarter Apple sold 33.8 million iPhones compared to the 26.9 million it sold in the same quarter last year. Apple also sold 14.1 million iPads during the quarter, which just topped last year's sales of 14 million. Overall, as expected, Mac sales were down, with 4.6 million Macs sold compared to 4.9 million last year - although the numbers here, considering the general overall outlook for laptops and desktops, are quite good.

Of particular interest, Apple provided guidance for the holiday 2013 (Apple's fiscal Q1 2014) quarter as follows:

• Revenue between $55 billion and $58 billion;
• Gross margin between 36.5 percent and 37.5 percent;
• Operating expenses between $4.4 billion and $4.5 billion;
• Other income/(expense) of $200 million;
• Tax rate of 26.25 percent

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said, “We’re pleased to report a strong finish to an amazing year with record fourth quarter revenue, including sales of almost 34 million iPhones. We’re excited to go into the holidays with our new iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s, iOS 7, the new iPad mini with Retina Display and the incredibly thin and light iPad Air, new MacBook Pros, the radical new Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks and the next generation iWork and iLife apps for OS X and iOS.”


image via shutterstock

Well, those are the requisite comments we would expect from Cook of course.

Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO, added, "We generated $9.9 billion in cash flow from operations and returned an additional $7.8 billion in cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases during the September quarter, bringing cumulative payments under our capital return program to $36 billion."

The earnings call itself is starting as we write - and Apple shares are down $12 per share in after hours trading - at $517.89.

We will provide much deeper details following the call.