Apple’s third quarter results were released today, and as expected the Cupertino-based company smashed its own revenue records.
“We’re thrilled to deliver our best quarter ever, with revenue up 82 percent and profits up 125 percent,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, understandably.
Those figures bear repeating in detail. In the fiscal quarter ended June 25, 2011, Apple posted revenue of $28.57 billion and a quarterly net profit of $7.31 billion. During the same quarter of 2010, these figures were revenue of $15.70 billion and net profit of $3.25 billion. Gross margin was 41.7 percent, up from 39.1 percent in the third quarter 2010.
Sales of iPhones grew 142 percent, to 20.34 million, and Mac sales went up 14 percent to 3.95 million. Only the Apple iPod showed a decline, with a 20 percent drop down to 7.54 million sold, due mainly to other Apple devices having the same capabilities.
The earnings call also said that 28.7 million iPads have been sold, almost half of which were purchased during the last six months, representing a 183 percent unit increase over the same time 2010. As CNN Money observed, even at those levels, the numbers were lower than analysts had expected. “We sold every iPad 2 we were able to make this quarter,” Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s chief financial officer said on the call. He denied that Japan’s natural disasters had an effect on supplies, however, and said there simply was “the mother of all backlogs.”
Getting back to the impressive numbers, the company reported there are now 327 Apple Stores, with an average revenue of $10.8 million each, and international sales accounted for 62 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
“We are extremely pleased with our performance which drove quarterly cash flow from operations of $11.1 billion, an increase of 131 percent year-over-year,” Oppenheimer said. “Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $25 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $5.50.”
Related Links:
Archived webcast of Apple’s Q3 2011 financial results call: www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq311
Wall Street Journal’s Marketbeat: http://tinyurl.com/453mcbw
CNN Money: http://tinyurl.com/3cjwg3l
