Another blockbuster quarter for Apple in yesterday’s results. True, iPad sales were lower than expected, but this was caused by the late arrival in the quarter of the new model and the short supply. Sales of the old model had slowed considerably in anticipation of the launch. However, the rest of the figures surpassed expectations, particularly the net profit of just under $6bn.
“With quarterly revenue growth of 83 per cent and profit growth of 95 per cent, we’re firing on all cylinders”, said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We will continue to innovate on all fronts throughout the remainder of the year”.
On Monday I reported Horace Dediu’s revised estimates for Apple figures and it’s interesting to see how close he was on everything except iPads sales, which was always going to be a difficult one to call. His revenue, EPS and iPhone figures were more or less spot on, while he underestimated Mac sales and the staggeringly high 41.4% gross margin.
Mac sales, powered in the quarter by the introduction of the new Thunderbolt MacBook Pros, continue to amaze the market. They’re on a roll.
Here are the comparisons, with actual figures first and Dediu’s forecasts in brackets.
- Revenue: $24.67bn ($25.5bn)
- Earnings per share: $6.4 ($6.43)
- iPhone unit sales: 18.65 (18.4m)
- iPod unit sales: 9.2m (10m)
- Mac unit sales: 3.76m (3.6m)
- iPad unit sales: 4.69m (7.3m)
- Gross margin: 41.4% (39.9%)