14 DAY TRIAL // Apple has finally announced the much anticipated financial results for its fiscal 2015 first quarter ended December 27, 2014, posting record revenue of $74.6 billion (€65.65 billion) and quarterly net profit of $18 billion (€15.84 billion).
These mind-boggling figures, coupled with other financial data laid down in the official announcement, are enough to convince even the most conservatory analyst that AAPL is a buy.
Mostly from iPhones, Macs, and App Store content
iPhone, Mac and the App Store were mainly responsible for these incredible results, with Apple confirming that it has sold 74.5 million iPhones during the quarter, another new record. iPad sold 21.4 million, and the Mac business sold 5.5 million units.
App Store revenues were up 41% during the quarter, while China revenues were up 157%. During yesterday’s conference call, Apple also threw in that it had sold its billionth iOS device in November. A staggering number for any hardware vendor.
An Apple investor is a happy investor
Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said that earnings per share (EPS) grew 48 percent over last year, and that Apple posted operating cash flow of $33.7 billion (€29.66 billion) during the quarter, also a first for the company.
He further noted that $8 billion (€7.04 billion) were spent on the capital return program. Investors raked in $103 billion (€90.64 billion) in returns. More than half of that ($57 billion / €50.16 billion) occurred in the last 12 months, Maestri said.
“We’d like to thank our customers for an incredible quarter, which saw demand for Apple products soar to an all-time high,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Our revenue grew 30 percent over last year to $74.6 billion, and the execution by our teams to achieve these results was simply phenomenal.”
For its second fiscal quarter, Apple anticipates revenue between $52 billion (€45.76 billion) and $55 billion (€48.4 billion), gross margin between 38.5 percent and 39.5 percent, operating expenses between $5.4 billion (€4.75 billion) and $5.5 billion (€4.84 billion), $350 million spending on “other income/(expense),” and a tax rate of 26.3 percent.