FOLLOW-UP: APPLE To Announce Fourth Quarter Earnings
This morning on Tech Talk we reported that Apple would indeed be announcing its 4th quarter (which ended September 26) earnings which were predicted by several analysts to be up:
Average analyst estimates for the Mac and iPhone maker are $1.42/share in EPS and $9.2 billion in Revenue. Thirty-six analysts track the stock with sixteen upward EPS revisions in the last 30 days and no downward EPS revisions in the last 30 days.
Last quarter, Apple beat average analysts expectations by $.18/share or 15.4%, $1.35/share vs. $1.17/share.
Well we are happy to announce this evening that once again Apple exceeded expectations. Despite the economic recession facing the world, Apple reported an amazng 46% increase in its fiscal earnings this quarter.Not only that but it was reported that $1.67 billion was earned at a whopping $1.82 per share($.40 more per share than predicted), on a revenue of $9.87 billion($.67 billion more than predicted).Apple sold 7.4 million iPhones (.4 million more than predicted) and 3 million Macs (sales of 2.8 million were predicted) during the last quarter.
As for the future with Apple’s iphone still gaining popularity, the new 13″ Mac Book Pros and the possible release of an Apple tablet, Chief Financial Officer of Apple, Peter Oppenheimer told Market Watch today:
Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said Apple estimates it will earn between $1.70 and $1.78 a share on revenue in a range of $11.3 billion to $11.6 billion. Analysts had forecast Apple to earn $1.91 a share on $11.45 billion in sales.
Speaking on a conference call, Oppenheimer said a recent rule change by the Financial Accounting Standards Board will have a positive impact on how Apple recognizes sales of iPhones and its Apple TV set-top box at the time those devices are purchased. The rule change affects the revenue from products that had been recognized of the life of a product — in the case of the iPhone and Apple TV, that estimated life had been two years.
Oppenheimer said that Apple would still recognize deferred revenue from such sales over a two-year period, but that because of the rule change “a substantial portion of the revenue will be recognized for these products at the time of sale.”
Oppenheimer said Apple is required by law to implement the new revenue-accounting rule by the first quarter of its 2011 fiscal year.
