Apple has turned in its fiscal 1st quarter (Q1) results, for the quarter ending in December 2001. The company turned in an outstanding quarter considering the economy and the damage done to the high-tech industry by the terrorist attacks of September 11th. The company turned in a profit of US$38 million, including US$23 million in profits from investments that mostly canceled out a US$24 million restructuring charge. Sales were up some 37% when compared to last year’s Q1, and the company has also increased its cash-on-hand levels to US$4.4 billion. From Apple:
2002—Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2002 first quarter ended December 29, 2001. For the quarter, the Company posted a net profit of $38 million, or $.11 per diluted share. These results compare to a net loss of $195 million, or $.58 per diluted share, in the year ago quarter. Revenues for the quarter were $1.38 billion, up 37 percent from the year ago quarter, and gross margins were 30.7 percent, compared to –2.1 percent in the year ago quarter. International sales accounted for 48 percent of the quarter’s revenues.
The quarter’s results included a $24 million restructuring charge related to targeted reductions in the Company’s operations, information systems and administrative functions, and a $23 million realized gain from equity investments. These non-recurring items had a net neutral impact on reported earnings per share.
Apple shipped 746 thousand Macintosh® units during the quarter.
"Apple delivered a solid quarter and is one of the few companies making a profit in personal computers during these challenging times," said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. "During last quarter we continued our strategy of innovation. We launched the wildly popular iPod and sold more than 125,000 of them in two months. And we ended the year with 27 Apple retail stores that attracted over 800,000 visitors in the month of December alone."
"We’re pleased to have delivered healthy results while maintaining lean channel inventories in a very challenging environment," said Fred Anderson, Apple’s CFO. "Our balance sheet remains very strong, with almost $4.4 billion in cash. We are targeting March quarter revenues to be up sequentially to about $1.5 billion and EPS to be approximately flat with the December quarter."
Apple’s stock closed lower by 92 cents to close at 20.78, on strong volume of 10,062,100.
The Mac Observer Spin:
This qualifies as an outstanding quarter. In the midst of declining sales with most PC vendors, Apple has shown that its vision of how to operate as a manufacturer of computers in an age of commodification is sound. For Apple to have been able to pull out a profit, increase sales, and increase its gross margins in one of the darkest times the world has seen in the last 50 years, is no mean feat. You won’t find that from the other PC vendors, especially with Dell doing everything it can to reduce margins in the Windows world to nothing. Initial reaction from Wall Street seems positive, but we’ll see how analysts react after a good night’s sleep.