News: Apple Reports Q3 Results

Apple announced financial results for its fiscal 2019 third quarter ending June 29, 2019. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $53.8 billion, an increase of 1 percent from the year-ago quarter, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $2.18, down 7 percent. International sales accounted for 59 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

If you recall from the second quarter results in April, Apple’s guidance followed a range format:

• revenue between $52.5 billion and $54.5 billion
• gross margin between 37 percent and 38 percent
• operating expenses between $8.7 billion and $8.8 billion
• other income/(expense) of $250 million
• tax rate of approximately 16.5 percent

Apple met those estimates this quarter, as per the press release:

“This was our biggest June quarter ever — driven by all-time record revenue from Services, accelerating growth from Wearables, strong performance from iPad and Mac and significant improvement in iPhone trends,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “These results are promising across all our geographic segments, and we’re confident about what’s ahead. The balance of calendar 2019 will be an exciting period, with major launches on all of our platforms, new services and several new products.”

“Our year-over-year business performance improved compared to the March quarter and drove strong operating cash flow of $11.6 billion,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “We returned over $21 billion to shareholders during the quarter, including $17 billion through open market repurchases of almost 88 million Apple shares, and $3.6 billion in dividends and equivalents.”

Apple is providing the following guidance for its fiscal 2019 fourth quarter:

• revenue between $61 billion and $64 billion
• gross margin between 37.5 percent and 38.5 percent
• operating expenses between $8.7 billion and $8.8 billion
• other income/(expense) of $200 million
• tax rate of approximately 16.5 percent

Apple’s board of directors has declared a cash dividend of $0.77 per share of the Company’s common stock. The dividend is payable on August 15, 2019 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on August 12, 2019.

Apple will provide live streaming of its Q3 2019 financial results conference call beginning at 2:00 p.m. PDT on July 30, 2019 at www.apple.com/investor/earnings-call/. This webcast will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter.