Apple today announced financial results for its third fiscal quarter of 2015 which ran from the end of March until June end.For the quarter Apple posted revenue of $49.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $10.7 billion, or $1.85 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $37.43 billion and net profit of $7.748 billion, or $1.28 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.
Gross margin was 39.7 percent compared to 39.36 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 64 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
Apple reported the following number of shipments for its products during the quarter:
- 47.5 million iPhones compared to 35.2 million in the year-ago-quarter
- 10.9 million iPads compared to 13.28 million in the year-ago-quarter
- 4.76 million Macs compared to 4.413 million in the year-ago quarter
- Internet services, led by sales of Apps on the iOS and Mac App Store, Apple Pay, and others generated revenue of $5.028bn compared to $4.485bn in the year-ago quarter
“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 provided the following guidance for its fiscal 2015 third quarter which ends in June:
- 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%
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.
A full and complete analysis of Apple's earnings call with investors will be posted soon.