Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2017 fourth quarter ended September 30, 2017. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $52.6 billion, an increase of 12 percent from the year-ago quarter, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $2.07, up 24 percent. International sales accounted for 62 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
“We’re happy to report a very strong finish to a great fiscal 2017, with record fourth quarter revenue, year-over-year growth for all our product categories, and our best quarter ever for Services,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “With fantastic new products including iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, Apple Watch Series 3, and Apple TV 4K joining our product lineup, we’re looking forward to a great holiday season, and with the launch of iPhone X getting underway right now, we couldn’t be more excited as we begin to deliver our vision for the future with this stunning device.”
“Apple’s year-over-year revenue growth rate accelerated for the fourth consecutive quarter and drove EPS growth of 24 percent in the September quarter,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “We also generated strong operating cash flow of $15.7 billion and returned $11 billion to investors through our capital return program.”
What the analysts expected:
– Q4 adjusted EPS: $1.87 expected by a Thomson Reuters consensus estimate.
– Q4 revenue: $50.7 billion expected by Thomson Reuters.
– Q4 iPhone unit sales: 46 million expected by a FactSet consensus estimate.
– Q1 revenue guidance: $84.9 billion expected by Thomson Reuters.
Product Summary:
• iPhone: 46.677 million units vs. 45.513 million in Q416 (+3% YOY), $28.846 billion revenue vs. $28.160 billion in Q416 (+2%)
• iPad: 10.326 million units vs. 9.267 million units in Q416 (+11% YOY), $4.831 billion revenue vs. $4.255 billion in Q416 (+25%)
• Mac: 5.386 million units vs. 4.886 million units in Q416 (+10% YOY), $7.170 billion revenue vs. $5.739 billion in Q416 (+25%)
• Services: $8.501 billion revenue vs. $6.325 billion in Q416 (+17% YOY)
• Other Products: $3.231 billion revenue vs. $2.373 billion in Q416 (+36% YOY)
Services includes revenue from Digital Content and Services, AppleCare, Apple Pay, licensing and other services. Services revenue in the fourth quarter of 2017 included a favorable one-time adjustment of $640 million due to a change in estimate based on the availability of additional supporting information.
Other Products includes sales of Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, iPod touch and Apple-branded and third-party accessories.
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 November 16, 2017 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on November 13, 2017.
Apple is providing the following guidance for its fiscal 2018 first quarter:
• revenue between $84 billion and $87 billion
• gross margin between 38 percent and 38.5 percent
• operating expenses between $7.65 billion and $7.75 billion
• other income/(expense) of $600 million
• tax rate of 25.5 percent
Apple will provide live streaming of its Q4 2017 financial results conference call beginning at 2:00 p.m. PDT on November 2, 2017 at www.apple.com/investor/earnings-call/. This webcast will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter.
MacDailyNews Take: AAPL after hours @ 4:41pm EDT: $173.38, +5.27%, +3.13%.
