Apple on Thursday reported quarterly iPhone sales that fell wanting Wall Street targets, adding to investor concerns about technology firms and sending shares down 1%, despite profit and revenue beats overall.
The saving grace for Apple CEO Tim Cook’s were Mac sales of $11.5 billion, far head of analyst estimates of $9.36 billion.
Minutes before Apple reported, Amazon added to tech sector misery, predicting a vacation profit slump that sent its shares tumbling.
Apple’s results showed some resilience within the face of a weak economy and robust US dollar that has led to disastrous reports from many tech firms, although Apple’s quarter was saved by its oldest technology, desktop computers, while its star, the iPhone, stumbled.
Overall, Apple said quarterly revenue rose 8% to $90.1 billion, above estimates of $88.9 billion, and net profit was $1.29 per share, topping with the common analyst estimate of $1.27 per share, in response to Refinitiv data.
Phone sales for the corporate’s fiscal fourth quarter rose to $42.6 billion, when Wall Street expected sales of $43.21 billion, in response to Refinitiv IBES. Against this, the general global smartphone market dropped 9% for the just-ended quarter, its third consecutive decline of the 12 months, in response to Canalys data.
Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said iPhone sales set a record for the September quarter, exceeding the corporate’s forecast.
“We did higher than we anticipated, despite the undeniable fact that foreign exchange was a major negative for us,” said Maestri.
JP Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee had noted early lackluster demand for base models of the newly introduced iPhone 14s, but robust consumer appetite for the high-end devices, reflecting Apple’s relatively affluent customer base. He warned that weaker consumer spending could impact earnings next fiscal 12 months.
Sales of Apple’s Mac computers received a lift from this summer’s introduction of redesigned MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops. Latest tablets went on sale this week.
The corporate reported sales of iPads were $7.2 billion, compared with the common estimate of $7.94 billion.
Apple wearables corresponding to AirPods and other accessories notched sales of $9.7 billion, barely ahead of the Wall Street forecast of $9.2 billion.
“Just like iPhones, we expect the macro impacts to units to creep into the upper end in some unspecified time in the future,” wrote Barclays hardware analyst Tim Long ahead of the outcomes.
Growth in the corporate’s services business, which has buoyed sales and profits in recent times, saw an increase to $19.2 billion in revenue, below the estimate of $20.10 billion.
In China, which has experienced a pointy economic slowdown, Apple reported fourth-quarter sales of $15.5 billion. That could be a gain from the prior quarter, when Apple logged sales of $14.6 billion.