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Apple (AAPL) Beats Q3 Earnings Estimates, Revenues Up Y/Y

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Apple (AAPL - Free Report) reported third-quarter fiscal 2024 earnings of $1.40 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.48% and increased 11.1% year over year. 

Net sales increased 4.9% year over year to $85.78 billion and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.59%. Unfavorable forex hurt net sales by 230 basis points (bps).

iPhone Sales Decline Offset by Services Growth

iPhone sales decreased 0.9% from the year-ago quarter to $39.27 billion and accounted for 45.8% of total sales. iPhone sales beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.43%. 

Overall, product sales (71.8% of sales) climbed 1.6% year over year to $61.56 billion. 

Services revenues grew 14.1% from the year-ago quarter to $24.21 billion and accounted for 28.2% of sales. The figure beat the consensus mark by 0.89%.

Apple Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Apple Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Apple Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Apple Inc. Quote

Apple now has more than 1 billion paid subscribers across its Services portfolio, more than double what it had four years ago. Paid subscriptions grew double-digits year over year in the reported quarter.

Geographic Details

America’s sales increased 6.5% year over year to $37.68 billion and accounted for 43.9% of total sales. The figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.53%.

Europe generated $21.88 billion in sales, up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. The region accounted for 25.5% of total sales. Europe’s sales beat the consensus mark by 6%.

Greater China sales decreased 6.5% from the year-ago quarter to $14.73 billion, accounting for 17.2% of total sales. The figure lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.03%.

Rest of the Asia Pacific generated sales of $6.39 billion, up 13.5% year over year. The region accounted for 7.4% of total sales. The figure beat the consensus mark by 4.66%.

Japan’s sales of $5.1 billion increased 5.7% year over year, accounting for 6.9% of total sales. The figure beat the consensus mark by 3.11%.

Mac & iPad Sales Up, Wearables Decline

Non-iPhone revenues (iPad, Mac and Wearables) increased 6.5% year over year on a combined basis.

Mac sales of $7 billion increased 2.5% from the year-ago quarter and accounted for 8.2% of total sales. The figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.24%. 

iPad sales of $7.16 billion increased 23.7% year over year and accounted for 8.3% of total sales. The figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.05%. 

Wearables, Home and Accessories sales decreased 2.3% year over year to $8.1 billion and accounted for 9.4% of total sales. The figure beat the consensus mark by 7.77%.

Operating Details

Gross margin of 46.3% expanded 170 bps on a year-over-year basis. The gross margin contracted 30 bps sequentially due to an unfavorable product mix.

Products’ gross margin contracted 130 bps sequentially to 35.3%. Services’ gross margin was 74%, down 60 bps sequentially.

Operating expenses rose 6.8% year over year to $14.33 billion due to higher research & development expenses, which increased 7.6% year over year. Selling, general & administrative expenses increased 5.8% year over year. 

As a percentage of revenues, research & development expenses, as well as selling, general & administrative expenses, increased 20 bps and 10 bps, respectively.

Operating margin expanded 140 bps on a year-over-year basis to 29.6%.

Balance Sheet

As of Jun 29, 2024, cash & marketable securities were $153.04 billion compared with $162.34 billion as of Mar 30, 2024.

Term debt, as of Jun 29, 2024, was $98.31 billion, down from $102.59 billion as of Mar 30, 2024.

Apple returned nearly $32 billion in the reported quarter through dividend payouts ($3.9 billion) and share repurchases ($26 billion).

Guidance

Apple expects the September quarter’s (fourth-quarter fiscal 2024) revenues to grow at the same rate as of June quarter on a year-over-year basis. Unfavorable forex is expected to hurt revenues by 1.5%. 

For the Services segment, Apple expects a double-digit growth rate similar to the first three quarters of fiscal 2024.

Gross margin is expected to be 45.5-46.5% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024. Operating expenses are expected to be between $14.2 billion and $14.4 billion.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Apple currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Year to date, AAPL shares have returned 13.4% compared with the Zacks Computer and Technology sector’s rise of 17.2%.

Shopify (SHOP - Free Report) , CACI International (CACI - Free Report) and Dell Technologies (DELL - Free Report) are some better-ranked stocks that investors can consider in the broader sector, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Shopify shares have declined 25.4% year to date. SHOP is set to report second-quarter 2024 results on Aug 7.

CACI International shares have gained 43.2% year to date. CACI is set to report fourth-quarter fiscal 2024 results on Aug 8.

Dell Technologies shares have gained 41.7% year to date. DELL is set to report second-quarter fiscal 2025 results on Aug 29.

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