Today after the bell, Apple reported its fiscal fourth quarter financial performance, including revenue of $42.1 billion, and earnings per share of $1.42. Analysts had expected Apple to report profit of $1.31 per share, on revenue for the period of $39.85 billion.
During the fiscal quarter, Apple had net profit of $8.5 billion, up 13.3% from $7.5 Billion in the same quarter last year. Compared to 2013’s fiscal Q4, revenue ticked up 12% (up from $37.5 billion).
The company sold 39.3 million iPhones, 12.3 million iPads, and 5.5 million Macs.
The company, up 2% during regular trading, is up in after-hours traffic following its earnings beat. The company had revenue of $37.4 billion in its sequentially preceding quarter, earning $1.28 per share in the three-month period.
Apple recently launched two new iPhones, the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus, which it claimed had better first-month sales than any other phone it released before. Apple also announced a number of new iPads. There has been some market pushback — including some from TechCrunch — that Apple has now created too many different iPad models — do you need an iPhone 6 Plus, or an iPad Air 3, or an iPad Mini 2, or iPad Mini 3? Do you really know?
This quarter’s revenues are preamble for its calendar fourth, fiscal first quarter which will include the holiday sales cycle. Apple’s revenues, which are seasonal to some extent, tick up in the period. The current quarter also has the advantage of being a full period of sales for the new Apple products, which could create additional revenue lift.