Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2015 first quarter ended December 27, 2014. The Company posted record quarterly revenue of $74.6 billion and record quarterly net profit of $18 billion, or $3.06 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $57.6 billion and net profit of $13.1 billion, or $2.07 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 39.9 percent compared to 37.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 65 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
The results were fueled by all-time record revenue from iPhone and Mac sales as well as record performance of the App Store. iPhone unit sales of 74.5 million also set a new record.
“We’d like to thank our customers for an incredible quarter, which saw demand for Apple products soar to an all-time high,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, in a statement. “Our revenue grew 30 percent over last year to $74.6 billion, and the execution by our teams to achieve these results was simply phenomenal.”
Apple Unit Sales Q115:
– iPhone: 74.468 million (vs. 51.025 million YOY, +46% YOY)
– iPad: 21.419 million (vs. 26.035 million YOY, -18% YOY)
– Mac: 5.519 million (vs. 4.837 million YOY, +14#% YOY)
“Our exceptional results produced EPS growth of 48 percent over last year, and $33.7 billion in operating cash flow during the quarter, an all-time record,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO, in a statement. “We spent over $8 billion on our capital return program, bringing total returns to investors to almost $103 billion, over $57 billion of which occurred in just the last 12 months.”
Apple is providing the following guidance for its fiscal 2015 second quarter:
• revenue between $52 billion and $55 billion
• gross margin between 38.5 percent and 39.5 percent
• operating expenses between $5.4 billion and $5.5 billion
• other income/(expense) of $350 million
• tax rate of 26.3 percent
Apple’s board of directors has declared a cash dividend of $.47 per share of the Company’s common stock. The dividend is payable on February 12, 2015, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on February 9, 2015.
Thomson Reuters analysts’ consensus estimates called for net income of $2.60 a share (compared with a split-adjusted $2.07 YOY). Analysts forecast record revenue of $67.7 billion (versus then-record $57.6 billion reported in Q114). Analysts polled by Fortune forecast iPhone unit sales of 66.5 million (vs. 51.025 million in Q114).
