Thanks to strong demand for services and wearables and a “phenomenal” online sales period, Apple beat the oddsmakers with a better-than-expected March-quarter report on Thursday, despite challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic. But Apple stock dipped Friday amid a down market.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based company mixed bad news with the good in its fiscal second-quarter report late Thursday. Leading the negative news was a 6.7% year-over-year drop in iPhone revenue as the coronavirus pandemic hit production and consumer demand for smartphones. Apple iPad and Mac computer sales also fell in the quarter.
On the positive side, Apple increased its cash dividend by 6% to 82 cents a share. The board of directors also authorized an increase of $50 billion to the existing share repurchase program, bringing the current stock buyback authorization to over $90 billion.
On the stock market today, Apple stock fell 1.6% to 289.07 as major indexes plunged. Earlier in the session, it was up as much as 1.8% to $299.
At least 10 Wall Street firms raised their price targets on Apple stock after the earnings report. However, three firms cut their price targets.
MacDailyNews Take: What freaked out some analysts was Apple not guiding for Q320, even though it couldn’t be more understandable.