“Simply looking over the numbers, it might be hard to wrap your head around what Apple just announced for their Q1 2012 results,” MG Siegler writes for TechCrunch.
“A company this big is not supposed to be able to nearly double revenue year-to-year. Nor are they supposed to more than double profit. But Apple did both. The numbers are so big that they almost seem like they should be typos — especially coming after a quarter that was a ‘miss’ (though we can now clearly see what a joke that ‘miss’ was),” Siegler writes. “So perhaps it’s best to point out some bigger numbers and to frame some of them in ways to make them easier to understand. That’s what all of Twitter seemed to be doing anyway during the earnings call this afternoon.”
“Apple’s cash hoard alone is worth more than all but 52 companies on Earth, as Dennis Berman notes,” Siegler writes. “Apple earned more money last quarter than the entire company was worth (in terms of market cap) just eight years ago, as Mathew Ingram relays from Eddy Elfenbein… It was only October of 2010 when Apple passed Microsoft in terms of revenue. At the time, Apple posted $20.34 billion — they’re well beyond double that now. Microsoft’s most recent quarter saw record revenue of $20.9 billion. Again, Apple came in at $46.33 billion.”
Siegler writes, “Apple’s profits for the last quarter exceed Google’s entire revenue for the last quarter, as Farhad Manjoo points out. And it’s not even close ($13 billion to $10.6 billion). Think about that for a second. And actually, Apple’s profit for the entire year now beats Google’s revenue for the entire year, as Marcel Molina points out. That gap is likely to get bigger given the most recent quarter.”
Much more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Joe Architect” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
After Apple’s absolutely epic quarter, maybe the Street will finally wake up? – January 25, 2012
MacDailyNews presents live notes from Apple’s Q112 Conference Call – January 24, 2012
Apple stuns Street with massive $46.33 billion record revenue; all-time record Mac, iPhone, iPad sales – January 24, 2012
Wall Street’s (likely) reaction? “This kind of growth is unsustainable. The stock is overvalued”.
Yea, right…
Not so far it isn’t.
I just hope all the crybabies who whine about Apple “always” going down after earnings remember today. It wasn’t true before today but at least it might be more memorable this time.
5.2 million Macs in a single quarter. 20 millions Macs sold this year?
Any industry or organization dumb enough to ignore the sales potential behind numbers those large have already begun their decline.
And that is with Cook admitting that the iPad is a cannibalizing Mac sales. Staggering growth.
apple offering their version of the “law of large numbers”
And we haven’t really had much of a product line refresh…hope all the line will refresh in 2012.
Now I have to read all the junk about dividends…ugh! Don’t hold your breath. Apple knows shareholders will dump them in a heartbeat given the opportunity. You can buy a small country, but you can’t buy loyalty by offering dividends. I hope Cook jacks R&D to a level noone dreams of and uses their cash to gradually eliminate every middleman, including the carriers. That’s what Jobs wanted…to be their own carrier.
Only one sad note: I would have loved for Steve Jobs to have seen this day! This would have been an EPIC confirmation of his/Apple’s vision. That would have been a Major Defining Moment …
Sorry, just can’t finish the thought …
I think Apple’s epic confirmation of his vision is still yet to come.
There is no proof that Steve Jobs didn’t see it.
Think about it. 🙂 Enjoy
… but we can take a little joy in the fact the Bill G and Steve B DID see them!
Don’t forget Mikey D. He saw it with his beady little narrow-set eyes as well. Wanker.
Yeah, Apple could buy controlling interest in AT&T with cash on hand and really shake things up. Think the DOJ would stand for that?
Apple Telephone and Telegraph?
This would be similar to Google’s bonehead move of buying Motorola Mobile. It would damage Apple’s relationship with other phone services.
One of Kodak’s biggest bonehead moves was to buy up companies with their dough that had either NO FIT with the company (Lehn and Fink…) or companies Kodak were not willing to integrate. (Diconix…). The result was a chaotic disaster of wasted talent, wasted tech and plain old wasted money.
You don’t just buy stuff when you have money. You INVEST in what ENHANCES WHAT YOU’RE GOOD AT. That is what Apple does. Going oblique never helped anyone or any company.
Apple needs to do an end run around the dumb pipes. Can they do this? Are they willing?
The one thing that bothers me:
Where the hell is the competition?!
Apple is an extremely exceptional company. I’m not worried in the short term that success will damage the company. But in the long term, this utter LACK of COMPETITION is a very bad thing.
So get your butts in gear world! Apple requires competition! It’s time you got entrepreneurial again and got to it!
I too have been trying to figure out why the “competition” seem like deer in the headlights, horses with blinders, pacified circus elephants, rats on the bulwarks, or Louisiana roadkill.
There is plenty of innovation going on today! Startups are springing up all over, and some of them will mature into worthy competitors—some will be munched up by the megasloths, or fail for another reason; but some will preserve the vision/energy of a startup, as is apparent with Apple. Then we’ll see real competition, and just in time, probably. You’re right about danger in the long term: that’s what happened to the big guns who didn’t “stay hungry, stay foolish”.