Apple announced results for its third fiscal quarter Tuesday, reporting record revenue of US$37.4 billion, with earnings of $7.7 billion (earning per share (EPS) of $1.28 per share). Apple said its EPS growth was 20 percent year-over-year, its highest rate of EPS growth in the last seven quarters.
Apple attributed its record results to growth in iPhone, Mac, and services. The company sold 35.2 million iPhone, up 12.6 percent from the year-ago quarter; 13.3 million iPads, down 9.2 percent; and, 4.4 million Macs, an impressive year-over-year growth of 17.6 percent. iPod sales continue to slide, coming in at 2.9 million, down from 4.6 million in the year-ago quarter.
Gross margins were outstanding, at 39.4 percent. This is up considerably from 36.9 percent in the year-ago quarter.
“Our record June quarter revenue was fueled by strong sales of iPhone and Mac and the continued growth of revenue from the Apple ecosystem, driving our highest EPS growth rate in seven quarters,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement. "We are incredibly excited about the upcoming releases of iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, as well as other new products and services that we can’t wait to introduce.”
Apple CFO Luca Maestri added, "We generated $10.3 billion in cash flow from operations and returned over $8 billion in cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases during the June quarter. We have now taken action on over $74 billion of our $130 billion capital return program with six quarters remaining to its completion."
Apple provided guidance of revenue between $37 and $40 billion for the September quarter, Apple's fiscal 4th quarter. Gross margins will be between 37 and 38 percent, and operating expenses will come in between $4.75 billion and $4.85 billion.
Apple will be paying a $0.47 per share dividend on August 14th, 2014 for shareholders of record on August 11th.
Shares of $AAPL ended the day higher at $94.72 per share, a gain of $0.781 (+0.83 percent), on strong volume of 49.2 million shares trading hands.
[Update: This story was updated with additional details. - Editor]
*In the interest of full disclosure, the author holds a tiny, almost insignificant share in AAPL stock that was not an influence in the creation of this article.