Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2017 third quarter ended July 1, 2017. The company posted quarterly revenue of $45.4 billion and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $1.67. These results compare to revenue of $42.4 billion and earnings per diluted share of $1.42 in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 61 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected Apple to report $1.57 EPS on revenue of $44.89 billion for the quarter.
“With revenue up 7 percent year-over-year, we’re happy to report our third consecutive quarter of accelerating growth and an all-time quarterly record for Services revenue,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, in a statement. “We hosted an incredibly successful Worldwide Developers Conference in June, and we’re very excited about the advances in iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS coming this fall.”
“We reported unit and revenue growth in all our product categories in the June quarter, driving 17 percent growth in earnings per share,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO, in a statement. “We also returned $11.7 billion to investors during the quarter, bringing cumulative capital returns under our program to almost $223 billion.”
Apple is providing the following guidance for its fiscal 2017 fourth quarter:
• revenue between $49 billion and $52 billion
• gross margin between 37.5 percent and 38 percent
• operating expenses between $6.7 billion and $6.8 billion
• other income/(expense) of $500 million
• tax rate of 25.5 percent
Apple’s board of directors has declared a cash dividend of $0.63 per share of the company’s common stock. The dividend is payable on August 17, 2017 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on August 14, 2017.
MacDailyNews Take: Boom! Good quarter!
Services bonanza (up 22% YOY)!
iPad unit shipments increased (15%) for the first time in 14 quarters (thanks, $329 iPad).
Good guidance, too! Apple’s Q417 revenue guidance of between $49 billion and $52 billion exceeded expectations, with analysts’ consensus at $49.2 billion. Strong guidance implies an on-time iPhone launch (not significantly delayed, if at all).
UPDATE: AAPL after hours: $159.10, up $9.05 (+6.03%) @ 6:20PM EDT
