Net income tops $1 billion mark; shares fall on conservative forecast
Apple Inc. on Monday reported third-quarter earnings that rose 31% from a year ago as the company said Macintosh sales reached nearly 2.5 million units and iPod shipments also showed continued strength.
However, Apple’s (AAPL 166.29, +1.14, +0.7%) shares fell 9% in after-hours trading as the company gave one of its typically conservative fourth-quarter earnings forecasts that fell short of Wall Street analysts’ expectations. A similar event took place following the company’s prior quarterly report in April, when a conservative forecast sent the stock tumbling despite strong results for the period.
For the period ended June 28, Apple said it earned $1.07 billion, or $1.19 a share, up from $818 million, or 92 cents a share, during the same period a year ago. Revenue rose 38% to $7.46 billion from last year’s sales of $5.41 billion.
The company beat the estimates of analysts surveyed by FactSet Research, who forecast Apple to earn $1.07 a share on sales of $7.36 billion. Gross margins fell to 34.8% from 36.9% from a year ago, but were above the company’s earlier forecasts of 33%.
On a conference call to discuss the results, Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer addressed the state of U.S. consumer spending, which has been the largest factor in Apple’s overall sales growth.
“We didn’t see any obvious impact to the business in the June quarter,” Oppenheimer said. “[But] we’re certainly aware of the economic environment and we’ve considered it among other factors in preparing our guidance.”
