Apple announced fiscal Q4 earnings on Thursday, with record September quarter revenues of US$64.7 billion and earnings per share (EPS) of $0.73. Both figures beat Wall Street consensus estimates, which expected revenues of $63.7 billion and EPS of $0.70.
As noted, those revenues marked a new September quarter record, but earnings of $12.67 billion were down from $13.68 billion in the year-ago quarter. The company specifically cited all-time records for its Mac products, as well as Services. The September quarter ended before Apple announced and shipped iPhone 12 Pro. While the company normally has a couple of weeks of new iPhone sales in the September quarter, this year’s launch was pushed back to October as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Accordingly, iPhone revenues slipped year-over-year from $33.3 billion to to $26.4 billion. Mac sales, however, clocked in at $9.03 billion, a huge increase from $6.99 billion in the year-ago quarter. iPad sales were also up sharply from $4.66 billion to $6.8 billion.
Shares of $AAPL ended the regular trading session higher on Thursday at $115.32 per share, a gain of $4.12 (+3.71%), on volume of 127.9 million shares trading hands. the after hours market, on the other hand, sent the stock back down. As of this writing, $AAPL is trading in the after hours market at $110.00, a loss of $5.32 (-4.61%).
“Apple capped off a fiscal year defined by innovation in the face of adversity with a September quarter record, led by all-time records for Mac and Services,” Apple CEO said in a statement. “Despite the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, Apple is in the midst of our most prolific product introduction period ever, and the early response to all our new products, led by our first 5G-enabled iPhone lineup, has been tremendously positive. From remote learning to the home office, Apple products have been a window to the world for users as the pandemic continues, and our teams have met the needs of this moment with creativity, passion, and the kinds of big ideas that only Apple can deliver.”
“Our outstanding September quarter performance concludes a remarkable fiscal year, where we established new all-time records for revenue, earnings per share, and free cash flow, in spite of an extremely volatile and challenging macro environment,” Apple CFO Luca Maestri added. “Our sales results and the unmatched loyalty of our customers drove our active installed base of devices to an all-time high in all of our major product categories. We also returned nearly $22 billion to shareholders during the quarter, as we maintain our target of reaching a net cash neutral position over time.”
This article has been updated with additional information.