Apple Reports Record Third Quarter Results With 33% Revenue Growth YoY

Apple on Tuesday announced financial results for its fiscal 2015 third quarter ended June 27, 2015, posting quarterly revenue of $49.6 billion and a quarterly net profit of $10.7 billion, or $1.85 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $37.4 billion and net profit of $7.7 billion, or $1.28 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 39.7 percent compared to 39.4 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 64 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

The growth was fueled by record third quarter sales of iPhone and Mac, all-time record revenue from services and the successful launch of Apple Watch.

Meanwhile, Microsoft posted its biggest quarterly loss ever, with revenue falling 5.1 percent in its latest quarter, hurt by continued weak PC demand, and a hefty writedown and other items related to the company’s Nokia mobile phone business acquisition last year.

“We had an amazing quarter, with iPhone revenue up 59 percent over last year, strong sales of Mac, all-time record revenue from services, driven by the App Store, and a great start for Apple Watch,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The excitement for Apple Music has been incredible, and we’re looking forward to releasing iOS 9, OS X El Capitan and watchOS 2 to customers in the fall.”

“In the third quarter our year-over-year growth rate accelerated from the first half of fiscal 2015, with revenue up 33 percent and earnings per share up 45 percent,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “We generated very strong operating cash flow of $15 billion, and we returned over $13 billion to shareholders through our capital return program.”

Apple is providing the following guidance for its fiscal 2015 fourth quarter:
– revenue between $49 billion and $51 billion
– gross margin between 38.5 percent and 39.5 percent
– operating expenses between $5.85 billion and $5.95 billion
– other income/(expense) of $400 million
– tax rate of 26.3 percent

Apple’s board of directors has declared a cash dividend of $.52 per share of the Company’s common stock. The dividend is payable on August 13, 2015, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on August 10, 2015.

Apple will provide live streaming of its Q3 2015 financial results conference call at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq315 for replay for approximately two weeks.