14 DAY TRIAL // Apple has announced the financial results for its fiscal 2008 fourth quarter that ended on September 27, 2008. Apple posted revenue of $7.9 billion, while net quarterly profit was $1.14 billion, or $1.26 per diluted share. The conference call also featured a surprise appearance from the company’s CEO, Steve Jobs, who revealed a record 2.6 million Macintosh computers sold.
Apple recognizes revenue and cost of goods sold for iPhone and Apple TV over their economic lives, in accordance with the subscription accounting treatment required by GAAP. Adjusting GAAP sales and product costs to eliminate the impact of subscription accounting, the corresponding non-GAAP measures for the quarter are $11.68 billion of “Adjusted Sales” and $2.44 billion of “Adjusted Net Income.”
Conference call highlights include:
- 2,611,000 Macintosh computers shipped during the quarter (21 percent unit growth and 17 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter). - 11,052,000 iPods sold (eight percent unit growth and three percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter). - 6,892,000 iPhone units sold, compared with 1,119,000 in the year-ago-quarter.
These results add up for a total of $7.9 billion in revenue, as opposed to revenue of $6.22 billion and net quarterly profit of $904 million, or $1.01 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter, according to Apple. Gross margin was 34.7 percent, up from 33.6 percent in the year-ago quarter, while international sales accounted for 41 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
“Apple just reported one of the best quarters in its history, with a spectacular performance by the iPhone – we sold more phones than RIM,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We don’t yet know how this economic downturn will affect Apple. But we’re armed with the strongest product line in our history, the most talented employees and the best customers in our industry. And $25 billion of cash safely in the bank with zero debt.”
“We’re very pleased to have grown revenue 35 percent and to have generated $9.1 billion in cash in fiscal 2008,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead, visibility is low and forecasting is challenging, and as a result we are going to be prudent in predicting the December quarter. We are providing a wide range for our guidance, targeting revenue of $9.0 to $10.0 billion and earnings per diluted share between $1.06 and $1.35.”
An analyst on behalf of ifoAppleStore, which deals with news and information about the company's retail stores, reveals that company executives failed to say how many retail stores would open during FY 2009. Also noted by the source was that no other analyst brought this up, while the new store figures (in the 35-40 range in previous years) would have been a relevant unit of measure for FY 2009 forecasts.
The audio webcast of Apple’s conference call discussing Q4 - 2008 financial results is available here. QuickTime is required to listen to the keynote address.