Apple sells 39.27 mln iPhones to catapult profit past Wall Street target
Apple Inc. said its quarterly profit rose 13% as strong demand for its new larger-screen iPhones helped to overcome sluggish iPad sales.
The Cupertino, Calif., technology giant AAPL, +1.46% is riding high from the flood of demand for a pair of new iPhones released in September. Even as Apple’s main smartphone competitor Samsung Electronics Co. feels the heat of intensifying competition from Chinese rivals, the iPhone continues to attract consumers willing to pay high prices for cutting-edge handsets.
Apple said net income was $8.47 billion in its fiscal fourth quarter ended Sept. 27 versus $7.51 billion in the year-ago period. Earnings per share rose more sharply, to $1.42 from a split-adjusted $1.18, because the company’s stock-repurchase program reduced the share count.
Revenue rose 12% to $42.12 billion from $37.47 billion in the same period a year earlier.
Analysts, on average, estimated that Apple would post earnings of $1.31 per share on revenue of $39.88 billion, according to Thomson Reuters. For the current quarter to December, Apple is forecasting revenue to range between $63.5 billion and $66.5 billion. Analysts, on average, are at $63.52 billion.
Apple said its gross margin, a closely watched indicator profitability measured by the percentage of revenue that remains after manufacturing costs, was 38% in the September quarter—at the high end of the company’s estimated range of 37% to 38%. For the December quarter, Apple said it forecasts a gross margin of 37.5% to 38.5%.
For its flagship product, Apple said it sold 39.27 million iPhones, up from 33.79 million units in the year-ago period, after Apple began selling two new iPhones on Sept. 19. Analysts had been predicting that Apple would sell 37.8 million iPhones in the period.
