Apple’s Earnings

Here’s a quick follow-up on my previous post. Apple’s Q4 net came in at $1.78 a share. Sheesh, their guidance is a joke. I’ve always known it’s a joke, but come on.
Apple said to expect a range of $1.06 to $1.35. That’s not even in the ballpark. Sorry, guys. You got to have some credibility here.

For the quarter ended Dec. 27, traditionally the best of the year because it includes the holiday season, the maker of computers and electronic devices reported net income of $1.61 billion, or $1.78 a share, up from $1.58 billion, or $1.76 a share, a year earlier. Excluding items, earnings were $2.56 a share.
Revenue rose 5.8% to $10.17 billion, with 54% of sales in the U.S.
In October, the iPod and iPhone maker predicted per-share earnings of $1.06 to $1.35 on revenue of $9 billion to $10 billion. Analysts’ latest estimates were for per-share earnings of $1.39 on revenue of $9.75 billion, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters. Gross margin was flat at 34.7%.
Apple sold 2.5 million Macintosh computers in the latest quarter, up 9% from a year earlier and in line with estimates. The company sold 22.7 million iPod media players, up 3% and far exceeding Wall Street’s expectations.
It also sold 4.4 million iPhones, 88% more than a year earlier but slightly less that Wall Street expected. The iPhone was launched in the U.S. in June 2007, the second-generation iPhone 3G went on sale last July, and sales started in about 30 more countries last fall. Last last month, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it will begin selling the iPhone 3G in a partnership that could boost Apple’s effort to gain share in the cellphone business.

The company said to expect Q2 EPS of 90 cents to $1. Yeah, right.

Posted by on January 21st, 2009 at 5:17 pm


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