|
 The shares dropped to $121 after the company released its results on
Tuesday, from $130.75 at the close.
The forecast overshadowed Apple's strong sales in China, which more
than doubled to $13.23 billion from a year earlier.
Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said in an interview the
results in China were "spectacular" during the quarter and noted
plans to open 40 stores there over the next 12 months.
Without disclosing specific figures, Maestri said sales of the Apple
Watch beat the company's expectations. He noted that in the nine
weeks since its launch in late April, the device has sold better
than either iPhones or iPads over a similar period after their
launch.
Apple said on Tuesday it sold 47.5 million iPhones in the third
quarter, up 35 percent from a year ago. But some analysts had
expected around 49 million.
Colin Gillis, an analyst for BGC Partners, said the results
highlighted the vulnerability of Apple's dependence on the iPhone
and the Chinese market's growing importance to the company.
"Where are you going to find growth in the world?" he said. "You've
done an amazing job sucking all the smartphone profits into your
balance sheet, but smartphone sales are slowing. What's going to
happen when the industry matures, just like PCs did?"
The company forecast revenue of $49 billion to $51 billion, missing
analysts' average estimate of $51.13 billion according to Thomson
Reuters I/B/E/S.
The company's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, which shattered iPhone sales
records when they were launched, are already 10 months old.
[to top of second column] |
Apple had a troubled day, with its App Store, Apple Music, iTunes
Store and some other services suffering disruption for more than
three hours before results were released.The company said net income
rose to $10.68 billion, or $1.85 per share, from $7.75 billion, or
$1.28 per share, a year earlier.
Analysts had expected earnings of $1.81 per share, according to
Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue rose 32.5 percent to $49.61 billion from a year earlier,
beating Wall Street's expectations of $49.43 billion.
GRAPHIC-Apple earnings interactive: http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/15/apple-earns/index.html
GRAPHIC-Apple results (static graphic): http://link.reuters.com/xez25w
(Reporting by Anya George Tharakan in Bengaluru and Julia Love in
San Francisco; Editing by Simon Jennings and Richard Chang)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
