iPhone 4S drives Apple to enormous earnings

Jan 25, 2012, by admin

Apple detailed takings of $46.33 billion and profits of $13.06 billion, or $13.87 per share, for the quarter ended December 31, 2011. That was up from the $26.74 billion, or $6.43 per share, the company saw at the same time last year.

“We’re excited with our exceptional outcomes  and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads, and Macs,” Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, said in a statement. “Apple’s momentum is extremely strong, and we have some incredible new products in the pipeline.”

forecasters  polled by FactSet Research Systems, on average, calculated that the company would fetch in $10.06 per share on revenue of $39 billion.

The presentation wiped out Apple’s own approximation, which called for earnings of $9.30 a share on sales of $37 billion. Apple made a unusual miss in its previous quarterly earnings, posting results that were strong but lower than forecasters anticipated, due in no small part to customers holding off on buying new iPhones in expectation of a newer model.

For its current quarter, Apple supposes revenue of $32.5 billion and projects earnings of $8.50 per share, 48 cents above forecast prospects.

Apple’s disgusting profit margin for the quarter was 44.7 percent, up 38.5 percent percent from the same quarter last year.

Following the news, shares of the company skyrocketed, propelling Apple to new highs. In after-hours trading, Apple was up by $33.59, or 7.99 percent.

As anticipated, the iPhone was the star of Apple’s quarter, with the company having sold 37.04 million pieces. That’s well above the 30 million forecasters were anticipating. This is the first quarter to incorporate sales of the iPhone 4S, which hit shelves in mid-October and had stronger launch sales numbers than any previous iPhone model.

Apple also said it sold 15.43 million iPads throughout the quarter, up 111 percent from the 7.33 million it sold throughout the same time a year ago. That go beyond the 13 million to 14 million units forecasters  were anticipating.

Of particular note were Apple’s Mac sales, coming in at 5.2 million units. That exceeds the 5 million units for the first time ever and bests the company’s previous top tally of 4.89 million units, set in its previous quarter. That figure matched up exactly with the 5.2 million forecasters were anticipating Apple to sell.

iPods persists their decline, with Apple posting sales of 15.4 million units, a reduce of 21 percent, evaluated to the company’s sales during Apple’s first quarter last year. This was the first time in recent years in which Apple did not do a packed refresh of its iPod Touch line, which persists to make up the preponderance of iPod unit sales. When introducing the iPhone 4S in October, Apple picked instead to offer it in a new color (white), as well as cut its price.

Along with Apple’s product line, the company’s retail stores saw notable growth year over year. Apple’s retail group accounted for $6.1 billion in revenue for the quarter, an raise of 59 percent evaluated to the same quarter last year. Part of the cause for that was base traffic to the company’s stores, which Apple hooked at 110 million visitors, up from 76 million last year.

Throughout its discussion call with sponsors  following the release of its financials, Apple fielded questions about its rivals, including Amazon and its Kindle Fire tablet, as well as how it piles up against opponents  in the smartphone field.

A Goldman Sachs forecaster questioned whether Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire tablet–and other low-cost iPad substitutes like it–might actually be turning people on to Apple’s iPad or making an impact on Apple’s sales.

“In terms of our aggressiveness, the ecosystem for iPads is in a class by itself,” Cook said. “I think people really want to do multiple things with their tablet, and therefore, we don’t really see these limited-function tablets and e-readers [as] being in the same category.”

Cook noted that there were a number of customers that would buy what he referred to as “limited function” devices but that people who wanted to buy an iPad wouldn’t “settle” for something else.

“In terms of tablets, last year was expectd to be the year of the tablet, and I think most people would concur that it was the year of the iPad for the second year in a row,” Cook swanked. “So we’re just going to persist to innovate like crazy in this area, and we think we can continue to compete with anyone who is currently shipping tablets or that might go in to the future.”

When asked whether Apple and Google were in a “two-horse race,” in terms of market share with iOS and Android, Cook send away  the claim.

“iOS is doing tremendously well,” Cook said. “I wouldn’t say it’s a two-horse race. There’s a horse in Redmond that always outfits  up and always runs, and will keep running, and there are other players we can’t count out.”

in its place, Cook presented that the company continues to focus on “making the world’s best products.”

“We’ll just stay on doing that and somewhat disregard how many horses there are,” Cook said. “We just want to keep on ahead and be the lead one.”