Apple has now officially opened its books and announced its results for its fourth fiscal quarter (third calendar quarter).
Apple has now officially opened the books and released the results for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2021 (third calendar quarter). Side note: Apple's fiscal year starts on October 1st and ends on September 30th. Apple did not announce a sales forecast at the last quarterly earnings conference either, as the company was unable to provide a realistic estimate due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Cupertino narrowly missed the analysts' forecast with an EPS (earnings per share) of $1.24. (In the same period last year, it was only $0.730.) That makes a total turnover of $83.4 billion and a profit of $20 billion. So expressed Apple boss Tim Cook said:
This year, we launched our most powerful products ever, from M1-powered Macs to iPhone 13, which sets new standards in performance and empowers our customers to think and connect in new ways. We're infusing our values into everything we make—moving toward our 2030 goal of net zero carbon across our entire supply chain and across the lifecycle of our products, and advancing our mission for a more equitable future.
Apple disappoints despite strong growth
Apple’s CFO, Luca Maestri, said:
Our record results for the September quarter cap off a remarkable fiscal year of strong double-digit growth in which we set new revenue records across all geographic segments and product categories despite ongoing uncertainties in the macroeconomic environment. The combination of our record sales performance, unmatched customer loyalty and the strength of our ecosystem drove our active installed base of devices to a new all-time high. In the September quarter, we returned more than $24 billion to our shareholders, moving us closer to our goal of achieving a long-term net cash position.
Apple's revenue of $83.4 billion represents growth of 29 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the previous year. Although Cupertino achieved strong growth in many product categories, Wall Street is disappointed. It had expected revenue of $85 billion. The stock fell by around 4.96 percent in after-hours trading. A revenue forecast for the current quarter was not given this time either. (Photo by Phongphan / Bigstockphoto)
