Consumer electronics giant Apple (AAPL) late Thursday beat expectations for its fiscal fourth quarter, but sales fell for the fourth consecutive quarter. Apple stock dropped in extended trading.
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The Cupertino, Calif.-based company earned $1.46 a share on sales of $89.5 billion in the quarter ended Sept. 30. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected Apple earnings of $1.39 a share on sales of $89.3 billion. On a year-over-year basis, Apple earnings rose 13% while sales declined 1%.
Apple now has posted four quarters in a row of declining sales.
In the September quarter, Apple’s hardware sales fell 5% year over year to $67.2 billion while services revenue rose 16% to $22.3 billion.
Apple Stock Retreats After Report
In after-hours trading on the stock market today, Apple stock slid 0.6% to 176.49. During the regular session Thursday, Apple stock climbed 2.1% to close at 177.57.
“During the September quarter, our business performance drove double-digit EPS (earnings per share) growth and we returned nearly $25 billion to our shareholders, while continuing to invest in our long-term growth plans,” Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said in a news release.
Apple’s iPhone revenue increased 3% to $43.8 billion and accounted for 49% of the company’s total sales in fiscal Q4.
Meanwhile, Apple’s Mac computer sales fell 34% to $7.6 billion. Its iPad tablet sales slid 10% to $6.4 billion.
Finally, revenue from Apple’s wearables, home and accessories unit declined 3% to $9.3 billion in the September quarter.
On Monday, Apple introduced new Mac computers featuring its latest processor, the M3. The new products included refreshed iMac desktop computers and MacBook Pro notebooks.
Apple stock has an IBD Composite Rating of 83 out of 99, according to IBD Stock Checkup. IBD’s Composite Rating combines five separate proprietary ratings into one easy-to-use rating. The best growth stocks have a Composite Rating of 90 or better.
Follow Patrick Seitz on X, formerly Twitter, at @IBD_PSeitz for more stories on consumer technology, software and semiconductor stocks.
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