Apple reported its fiscal third quarter earnings on Tuesday of $ 35 billion in revenue and $ 8.8 billion in earnings, or $ 9.32 per share. That’s ahead of what Apple itself had forecast, but below what Wall Street was expecting. For the closely watched iPhone sales, Apple came out on the lower side of expectations: 26 million iPhones. Its iPad sales were a record for the company though: 17 million sold during the quarter.
Unsurprisingly, Wall Street reacted negatively, sending the stock down five percent to $ 569.32 in after-hours trading on the news. Investors were anticipating $ 37.2 billion in revenue and $ 10.36 in earnings. Apple had forecast revenue of $ 34 billion and EPS of $ 8.68.
Here’s the device sales breakdown: 26 million iPhones, an increase of 28 percent from the same quarter a year ago; 17 million iPads, an 84 percent increase; 4 million Macs sold, a modest 2 percent bump from last year, and 6.8 million iPods, which is off 10 percent.
Analysts who follow Apple had a wide range of expectations for iPhone sales, from 27 million up to 37 million unit sales. Apple’s actual sales came in under that, at 26 million, which will cause much handwringing on the part of investors. The iPad, meanwhile is an obvious bright spot for the company, beating its previous iPad sales record set this past holiday season.
CEO Tim Cook stayed positive in the press release accompanying the earnings call: “We’re thrilled with record sales of 17 million iPads in the June quarter. We’ve also just updated the entire MacBook line, will release Mountain Lion tomorrow and will be launching iOS 6 this Fall. We are also really looking forward to the amazing new products we’ve got in the pipeline.”
There is the usual conference call with Apple executives and Apple investors, who will undoubtedly have many questions, scheduled for 2 p.m. PT today.
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