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Tech

Apple Crushes Earnings

Jay Yarow
2015-01-27T21:28:00Z
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Apple delivered an earnings report for the ages.

Its performance from October to December 2014 was staggering.

Apple sold 74.5 million iPhones, up 46% compared to the year prior, its biggest-ever quarter by 23.4 million units. Analysts were expecting only 65 million units sold.

This growth is truly phenomenal. At this time last year, the iPhone business was 6.7%. People believed that the iPhone business was set to be in single-digit growth for a long time to come.

Tim Cook
Tim Cook. AP

The average selling price of an iPhone was $687. The average selling price of Android phones is about $300. 

The strength of the iPhone business led to Apple delivering $74.6 billion in revenue, up 30% year over year, soundly beating expectations of $67.5 billion in revenue. 

Apple's net income for the quarter was $18 billion, up 37% year over year. It is also the most ever earned by a company in history, according to this Wikipedia entry.

The stock rose 5% after market in response to the report.

If there's anything negative in this report, it's the iPad, which missed expectations. Apple sold 21.5 million units, which is down 17%. On the earnings call, Cook said that there was probably some cannibalization of the iPad from the Mac on one side, and the iPhone on the other side. He says that he believes over the "long arc of time" that the iPad will be a strong growing business. However, in the near term he expects to see more declines in the iPad's unit sales.

There is some concern that this quarter will be a monster for the iPhone, but then Apple will struggle to continue growing the iPhone business. On the company's earnings call, CEO Tim Cook addressed those concerns. He said that only a fraction — a "low teens" percentage — of Apple's installed based has upgraded to a new iPhone. So, there is room for growth. He also said that the iPhone 6 had the biggest number of "Android switchers" in three years. So, Apple is pulling Android users to the iPhone. He also said there are plenty of people that are still buying their first iPhone. Those three groups of people will contribute to sustained success for the iPhone.

The numbers that matter:

  • Revenue: $74.6 billion, up 30% versus $67.5 billion expected.
  • Earnings per share: $3.06, up 48%, versus $2.60 expected.
  • iPhone units: 74.5 million, up 46% versus 65 million expected.
  • iPhone revenue: $51.2 billion.
  • iPhone average selling price (ASP): $687 versus $668 expected.
  • iPad units: 21.4 million, down 17% versus 22 million expected.
  • iPad revenue: $9 billion.
  • iPad ASP: $419 versus $436 expected.
  • Mac units: 5.52 million, up 14% versus 5.5 million units expected.
  • Mac revenue: $6.9 billion.
  • Apple's cash: $178 billion.
  • Gross margin: 39.9% versus 38.5% expected.
  • March quarter revenue guidance: $52-$55 billion versus $53.70 billion expected.

Here's a full table from Apple with each business unit:

Apple Q1 table
Apple


CHARTS

iPhone Sales
BI Intelligence
iPad Sales
BI Intelligence


iPhone iPad ASP
BI Intelligence
EARNINGS CALL

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