News: Apple Reports Q2 Results
Apple announced financial results for its fiscal 2015 second quarter ending March 28, 2015. In the conference call, Apple posted quarterly revenue of $58 billion and quarterly net profit of $13.6 billion, or $2.33 per diluted share.
If you recall from the first quarter results in January, Apple’s guidance followed a range format:
- revenue between $52 billion and $55 billion
- gross margin between 38.5 percent and 39.5 percent
- operating expenses between $5.4 billion and $5.5 billion
- other income/(expense) of $350 million
- tax rate of 26.3 percent
Apple beat those estimates this quarter, as per the press release:
Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2015 second quarter ended March 28, 2015. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $58 billion and quarterly net profit of $13.6 billion, or $2.33 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $45.6 billion and net profit of $10.2 billion, or $1.66 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 40.8 percent compared to 39.3 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 69 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
The growth was fueled by record second quarter sales of iPhone and Mac and all-time record performance of the App Store.
“We are thrilled by the continued strength of iPhone, Mac and the App Store, which drove our best March quarter results ever,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’re seeing a higher rate of people switching to iPhone than we’ve experienced in previous cycles, and we’re off to an exciting start to the June quarter with the launch of Apple Watch.”
“The tremendous customer demand for our products and services in the March quarter drove revenue growth of 27 percent and EPS growth of 40 percent,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “Cash flow from operations was also outstanding at $19.1 billion.”
Apple is providing the following guidance for its fiscal 2015 third quarter:
- revenue between $46 billion and $48 billion
- gross margin between 38.5 percent and 39.5 percent
- operating expenses between $5.65 billion and $5.75 billion
- other income/(expense) of $350 million
- tax rate of 26.3 percent
Apple will provide live streaming of its Q1 2015 financial results conference call beginning at 2:00 p.m. PDT on April 27, 2015 at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq215. This webcast will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter.
Additionally, the company expanded their capital return program to $200 billion:
Apple today announced that its Board of Directors has authorized an increase of more than 50 percent to the Company’s program to return capital to shareholders. Under the expanded program, Apple plans to utilize a cumulative total of $200 billion of cash by the end of March 2017.
As part of the revised program, the Board has increased its share repurchase authorization to $140 billion from the $90 billion level announced last year. In addition, the Company expects to continue to net-share-settle vesting restricted stock units.
The Board has also approved an increase of 11 percent to the Company’s quarterly dividend, and has declared a dividend of $.52 per share, payable on May 14, 2015 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 11, 2015.
From the inception of its capital return program in August 2012 through March 2015, Apple has returned over $112 billion to shareholders, including $80 billion in share repurchases.
To assist in funding the program, the Company plans to continue to access the domestic and international debt markets. The management team and the Board will continue to review each element of the capital return program regularly and plan to provide an update on the program on an annual basis.
“We believe Apple has a bright future ahead, and the unprecedented size of our capital return program reflects that strong confidence,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “While most of our program will focus on buying back shares, we know that the dividend is very important to many of our investors, so we’re raising it for the third time in less than three years.”