Apple revenues rose by $1.3 billion year-over-year to $75.9 billion in its first 2016 fiscal quarter, which ended in December following the usual holiday rush, the company has announced. Profits were $18.4 billion, while earnings per share was reported as $3.28. The results failed to beat consensus analyst estimates of $77.4 billion in revenue, though they fell within Apple’s guidance.
Gross margin increased incrementally, from 39.9 percent to 40.1 percent over last year.
“Our record sales and strong margins drove all-time records for net income and EPS, in spite of a very difficult macroeconomic environment,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “We generated operating cash flow of $27.5 billion during the quarter, and returned over $9 billion to investors through share repurchases and dividends. We have now completed $153 billion of our $200 billion capital return program.“
“These results compare to revenue of $74.6 billion and net income of $18 billion, or $3.06 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 66 percent of the quarter’s revenue,” the company said in a statement.
“Our team delivered Apple’s biggest quarter ever, thanks to the world’s most innovative products and all-time record sales of iPhone, Apple Watch and Apple TV,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. “The growth of our Services business accelerated during the quarter to produce record results, and our installed base recently crossed a major milestone of one billion active devices.”
For the March quarter, Apple is guiding revenues between $50 billion and $53 billion, and a gross margin of between 39 and 39.5 percent. The March quarter guidance represents a significant drop from a year ago, when pent-up demand for larger screens pushed the iPhone 6 to significantly higher highs outside the holiday quarter.
Apple is expecting operating expenses of between $6 billion and $6.1 billion, along with other income expense of $325 million in the second fiscal quarter, which ends March 31. The tax rate for that quarter is expected to be 25.5 percent. The quarterly dividend will be 52 cents per share, and will pay out on February to shareholders of record as of February 8.
