Apple’s stock is plummeting

03.11.2023

Apple (AAPL) shares fell 2 per cent in pre-market trading on Friday after the iPhone maker reported earnings that beat forecasts late Thursday, but a cautious outlook for the current quarter weighed on the stock.

In its fiscal fourth quarter, earnings per share were $1.46 on revenue of $89.5 billion. Wall Street had expected earnings per share of $1.39 on revenue of $89.3 billion, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. This is the fourth consecutive quarter that revenue has declined from a year ago.

The company said iPhone sales rose to $43.8 billion in the fourth quarter, slightly beating expectations and setting a new record for iPhone sales in the fiscal fourth quarter. Services revenue exceeded $22 billion for the first time.

Revenues in the Mac, iPad and wearable device categories were down from the same quarter last year. At the end of the fiscal year just ended, Apple’s total revenue was $383.3bn, up from $394.3bn in the previous year.

In a meeting with analysts following the results, Apple CFO Luca Maestri said that revenue in the current quarter would be “similar” to last year’s. Maestri also said the company expects “significant deceleration” in revenue growth in the Mac, iPad and wearable device categories compared to the fourth quarter.

Wall Street analysts had forecast revenue of $122.8 billion for the current quarter, according to Bloomberg. Last December, Apple’s revenue was $117.2 billion.

In an interview with Yahoo Finance, Maestri said the expected decline in Mac sales is due to market conditions and, in his words, “a very difficult comparison to a year ago.” He added that Apple continues to attract new customers to the Mac, adding that “about half of the customers in the quarter were new to the product.”

In the iPhone segment, Apple expects revenue in the current quarter to be up from a year ago.