Apple reported its Q2 2021 earnings after the closing bell on Wednesday, obliterating analysts’ expectations on the top and bottom line. Revenue was up a stunning 54% year-over-year on strong hardware sales in the quarter.
Apple shares barely budged, up fractionally (0.68%) over Wednesday’s close.
Daniel Howley for Yahoo Finance:
Executives on Apple’s conference call warned of the impact of the ongoing global chip shortage on Apple’s hardware business. Supply constraints could have a revenue impact of $3 billion to $4 billion in the June quarter, Apple’s CFO Luca Maestri said on the earnings call.
Those shortages will mainly affect the iPad and the Mac, CEO Tim Cook said. “And so, we’ll have some challenges in there, and challenges in meeting the demand that we’ve got. The demand feels very strong right now,” Cook said.
The biggest dark cloud hanging over Apple and other consumer tech companies is the ongoing global chip shortage, which could last into 2022.
The fear for Apple is that a lack of available semiconductors could slow the company’s ability to get products built and into consumers’ hands. So far, Apple has fared well, but a long-term slowdown in chip availability could ding its revenue going forward.
MacDailyNews Take: At publication, Apple shares are trading at $134.49, up $+0.91 (+0.68%) over yesterday’s close prior to the release of the company’s earnings report.