Apple Posts Q4 ‘09 Results - Most Profitable Quarter Ever

As promised, Apple has announced its financial results for fiscal year 2009, the fourth quarter, ended on September 26, 2009. According to the company’s executives, the Mac maker saw a revenue of $9.87 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.67 billion, or $1.82 per diluted share, with record Mac and iPhone sales.

Compared with the revenue of $7.9 billion and the net quarterly profit of $1.14 billion, or $1.26 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter, Apple could confirm that Q4 2009 was its most profitable quarter ever. Moreover, this time around, the gross margin was of 36.6 percent (up from 34.7 percent in the year-ago quarter), while the international sales accounted for 46 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

“In accordance with the subscription accounting treatment required by GAAP, the Company recognizes revenue and cost of goods sold for iPhone and Apple TV over their estimated economic lives,” Apple’s official report reads. “Adjusting GAAP sales and product costs to eliminate the impact of subscription accounting, the corresponding non-GAAP measures for the quarter are $12.25 billion of ‘Adjusted Sales’ and $2.85 billion of ‘Adjusted Net Income.’”

The company posts record Mac sales revealing that 3.05 million Macintosh computers were sold in Q4 2009 alone. The figure represents a 17-percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. However, as far as Apple’s popular music players are concerned, iPod sales reportedly went down 8% compared with the year-ago quarter, with 10.2 million units sold during this quarter. iPhone sales continue to be on the rise, with 7.4 million units shipped this quarter, a seven-percent increase compared with last year.

“We are thrilled to have sold more Macs and iPhones than in any previous quarter,” Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, said. “We’ve got a very strong lineup for the holiday season and some really great new products in the pipeline for 2010.”

“We are delighted with our September quarter and fiscal 2009 results,” Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO, added. “For the full year, we grew revenue by 12 percent and net income by 18 percent in extraordinarily challenging times. Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue in the range of about $11.3 billion to $11.6 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about $1.70 to $1.78.”