Another very positive quarter for Apple, with sales up 54% compared to a year ago and much more solid profits than experts expected. Fiscal second quarter net income was $ 23.6 billion (+ 110%), or $ 1.40 per share, on revenues of $ 89.58 billion (+ 53.7%), a record for the quarter to March, against expectations of 0.99 dollars on 77.36 billion. IPhone sales increased from the first quarter of 2020 by 65.5% to $ 47.94 billion, versus expectations of $ 41.43 billion.
Every other category recorded better than expected results: revenues from services were 16.90 billion (+ 26.7%), those from the sale of Macs by 9.10 billion (+ 70.1%), revenues from iPad 7.8 billion (+ 78.9%), those from other products 7.83 billion (+ 24%). The gross margin was 42.5%, against expectations for 39.8%; an “unusually high” margin, noted Cnbc, recalling that usually Apple’s is between 38% and 39%.
In a statement from the company, CEO Tim Cook commented, “This quarter reflects both the ability of our products to help our users get through this, and consumer optimism for the better days ahead.” Apple then announced that it will increase the dividend by 7% to $ 0.22 per share and that it has authorized a buyback of $ 90 billion, significantly higher than those of the last two years (50 billion in 2020, 75 billion in 2019). . Immediately following the publication of the accounts, Apple’s stock was gaining 3.2% in the after-hours.
Some analysts believe that the popularity of the iPhone 12 could lead to the best sales result since 2014, when the iPhone 6 came out. The iPhone 12 is the first model that can connect to 5G networks that promise faster speeds, but are still being activated. Meanwhile, Apple is trying to push sales further with an iPhone 12 in a new purple color, just unveiled.
Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri told investors that global chip shortages could cost the company $ 3 to $ 4 billion in revenue in fiscal third quarter. Cook explained that the shortages “mainly concern the iPad and the Mac. And so there may be some difficulty in meeting current demand.” Cook added that the biggest problem is semiconductors built with older technologies, the same ones that have slowed the production of other companies, including automakers like Ford and General Motors. Cook noted it was difficult to predict how long this shortage of chips will last: “We would need to know the real demand of everyone who uses them, and how it will change in the next few months, so it’s very, very difficult.”
Cook then said Apple has 660 million paying subscribers on its platforms, an increase from 620 million in the first fiscal quarter.