Apple’s ‘Unstoppable’ Financial Engine
Apple reported yet another record smashing quarter today, earning $51.5 billion in revenue and $11.1 billion in net profit on blockbuster sales of 48 million iPhones and 5.7 million Macs.
Overall revenue was up 22 percent year over year, compared to $42.1 billion in revenue and $8.5 billion net profit during the same period a year ago.
Apple was also propelled by record sales of 5.7 million Macs, up 3 percent year over year.
“Fiscal 2015 was Apple’s most successful year ever, with revenue growing 28 percent to nearly $234 billion,” said Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook.
“This continued success is the result of our commitment to making the best, most innovative products on earth, and it’s a testament to the tremendous execution by our teams.”
“We are heading into the holidays with our strongest product lineup yet, including iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, Apple Watch with an expanded lineup of cases and bands, the new iPad Pro and the all-new Apple TV which begins shipping this week.”
Gross margin was at 39.9 percent for the quarter, up from 38 percent a year ago. Apple’s earnings were $1.96 per diluted share, an increase from $1.42 EPS in the September 2014 quarter.
iPhone units posted a 22 percent year over year increase, while revenue from the hot selling handset was up 36 percent.
International sales accounted for 62 percent of the quarter’s revenue, and sales in China were up 99 percent year over year.
iPad sales continued their decline in the quarter, however, falling 20 percent year over year to 9.8 million tablets.
“Apple’s record September quarter results drove earnings per share growth of 38% and operating cash flow of $13.5 billion,” said Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri. “We returned $17 billion to our investors during the quarter through share repurchases and dividends, and we have now completed over $143 billion of our $200 billion capital return program.”
Looking forward to the December quarter, Apple’s first of fiscal 2016, the company is projecting revenue between $75.5 billion and $77.5 billion, with gross margins between 39 and 40 percent. Operating expenses are expected to be between $6.3 billion and $6.4 billion, with other income of $400 million, and a tax rate of 26.2 percent.
Apple Press Info: Apple Reports Record Fourth Quarter Results
Apple’s Enterprise Business Ballooned 40% to Reach $25B
During Apple’s quarterly earnings conference call yesterday, CEO Tim Cook said the company’s enterprise operations hit a high-water mark of $25 billion over the past 12 months, up 40 percent compared to last year.
Speaking on opportunity for future growth going into 2016, Cook rattled off a few key product lines like iPhone, Mac and Apple Watch before landing on enterprise, a often overlooked line item on Apple’s quarterly filing. Enterprise markets accounted for about $25 billion in revenue for fiscal 2015 and Cook expects the sector to be a “major growth vector” moving forward.
“The enterprise business is not to be underestimated,” Cook said. “I doubt very many people knew that we have a $25 billion enterprise business that we’ve quietly built in not too many years. Our penetration is low, but we have significant action going on to really deepen that.”
Cross Research analyst Shannon Cross later asked how Apple intends to better capitalize on the needs of businesses, noting the company has a comparatively small dedicated enterprise sales force. Cook said not to expect any major changes in policy, saying Apple will lean on its 75 ability partners for that purpose, firms that already have sizable direct sales teams. In addition to direct sales, Cook mentioned a “huge” worldwide indirect channel from which businesses can purchase Apple products.
“We’ll clearly continue adding some people, more on the engineering side, but I don’t envision having a large direct sales force”
In August, Apple announced a partnership with Cisco that has the two companies working to optimize corporate networks for iPhone, iPad and iOS apps. That’s on top of a groundbreaking tie-up with IBM and its MobileFirst for iOS initiative, which itself spawned a backend partnership with cloud storage and collaboration company Box.
Cook is expectedly upbeat on Apple’s potential to disrupt a decidedly Windows-based market. Some companies are already seeing the benefits of switching to Mac and iOS, as Cook said IBM saves some $270 per Mac in support costs when compared to Windows machines. IBM has distributed more than 30,000 Macs to employees after activating a MacBook purchase program for employees in July, intending to ultimately dole out up to 200,000 units.
Related: Apple Culture of “What Are You Going to Do Next?”
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