Apple Inc. (AAPL) posted modestly better-than-expected third quarter earnings Thursday, but missed Street forecasts for iPhone sales amid supply ongoing supply chain constraints and muted consumer demand.
The world's biggest tech company also said holiday quarter revenues would slow from September levels, citing in part a 10 percentage point year-on-year impact from the surging U.S. dollar, which is trading near 20-year highs against its global peers.
Apple said earnings for the three months ending in September, the group's fiscal fourth quarter, were pegged at $1.29, up 4% from the same period last year. Group revenues, Apple said, rose 2% from last year to an all-time high of $90.15 billion, just ahead of analysts' estimates of $88.9 billion.
Apple said iPhone revenues rose 9.6% from last year to $42.62 billion, missing the $43.2 billion Street forecast.
China sales rose 6.25% to $15.47 billion, Apple said, while revenues from its key services business rose just 5% to $19.19 billion.
Net sales for the Mac were up 25% to $11.51 billion, while wearable, home and accessories sales, which include the AppleWatch, rose 9.8% to $9.65 billion.
“This quarter’s results reflect Apple’s commitment to our customers, to the pursuit of innovation, and to leaving the world better than we found it,” said CEO Tim Cook. “As we head into the holiday season with our most powerful lineup ever, we are leading with our values in every action we take and every decision we make."
"We are deeply committed to protecting the environment, to securing user privacy, to strengthening accessibility, and to creating products and services that can unlock humanity’s full creative potential,” he added.
Apple shares were marked 2.1% lower in after hours trading immediately following the earnings release to indicate a Friday opening bell price of $141.75 each.
Multiple media reports in early September suggested Apple was facing waning iPhone demand and had instructed suppliers and assemblers to pare back plans to boost production of the newly-launched iPhone 14 by as many as 6 million units, opting instead to chase a target of 90 million -- roughly in-line with last year's tally and its early summer forecast -- for the second half of this year.
Earlier this month, however, the International Data Corporation's closely-tracked survey showed global PC shipments fell 15% from last year to around 74.3 million units, lead by a 27.8% decline for HP Inc. (HPQ). Apple, however, notched a 40.2% gain for the three months ending in September, with shipments rising to just over 10,000 units of is Mac personal computers.
