The forecast for the Christmas quarter disappoints analysts and investors. Apple expects sales to stagnate in the important December quarter. Apple also ended the 2023 fiscal year with a decline in sales and profits.
Apple has them Analyst expectations in terms of sales and profits in the fourth fiscal quarter. In the months of July, August and September, the iPhone manufacturer generated one Net income of $22.96 billion or $1.46 per share on revenue of $89.5 billion. Wall Street had expected sales of $89.28 billion and net profit of $1.39 per share.
Investors nevertheless sent the price of Apple shares significantly into the red after the publication of the balance sheet. At the start of after-hours trading, the price of the paper fell by more than four percent to $170.13. The price subsequently settled at $171.57, which corresponds to a loss of 3.38 percent. The current 52-week high is $198.23.
Sales forecast weighs on share price
The trigger for the after-hours price loss was a rather cautious sales forecast from Apple CFO Luca Maestri. On a conference call with analysts, he said Christmas quarter revenue would likely be on par with the same period last year. Analysts had previously forecast growth of almost five percent to $122.98 billion.
The Mac division was primarily responsible for Apple’s decline in sales in the fourth fiscal quarter. Their revenue shrank by almost $4 billion to $7.61 billion. The iPad division also missed its previous year’s results by around ten percent and reported revenue of $6.44 billion.
Apple was unable to offset these declines with its smartphones. The iPhone division was responsible for $43.8 billion in sales in the fourth fiscal quarter, an increase of almost three percent. The services division showed significant growth, earning $22.31 billion (plus 16 percent). Wearables, home and accessories contributed $9.3 billion to the overall result (minus three percent).
Fiscal year 2023 with decline in sales and profits
The bottom line is that Apple’s fourth quarter still broke two records. “Apple is pleased to announce today record iPhone revenue for the September quarter and new Services revenue record,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Apple also closed the 2023 financial year with a decline in sales. $383.29 billion corresponds to a decrease of 2.8 percent. Net profit fell 2.9 percent to $96.99 billion.