Apple Posts Best Quarterly Results Ever

Apple Inc. posted quarterly results Thursday that shattered previous records, answering the concerns of jittery investors about the toll supply chain constraints are having on the world’s biggest company, reports The Wall Street Journal.

WSJ Graphic

Chief Executive Tim Cook said in an interview those challenges are improving. Shares rose more than 4% after markets closed Thursday in New York, following Apple’s report that October-to-December revenue hit $123.9 billion and profit reached $34.6 billion, both company records that exceeded Wall Street expectations.

The iPhone maker had previously cautioned that sales growth in the important holiday quarter would be affected in the period as tech and auto industries face parts shortages, in particular a lack of microprocessors, amid disruptions from the global pandemic.

“We saw supply constraints across most of our products,” Mr. Cook said in an interview Thursday as the company released its results. “We’re forecasting that we will be less [constrained] in March than we were in the December quarter.”

Apple should see year-over-year revenue growth in the quarter that runs January through March, he said, while remaining circumspect about when the industry’s supply issues will clear up long-term. “We’re not projecting that,” Mr. Cook said. “You need to know a lot of things to be able to make an accurate forecast there, like how are other people’s demands in addition to what kind of supply we can squeeze out.”

Investors have been debating the extent to which Apple’s revenue would be affected by supply chain problems or waning interest in its latest iPhone lineup. Apple’s iPhone 13 models are very similar to versions introduced in October 2020, something that in the past has been linked to slower sales.

Year-over-year iPhone sales rose 9% to $71.6 billion during the fiscal first quarter that ran through December, the company said. That beat Wall Street expectations for a 3% gain, according to the average estimate from analysts surveyed by FactSet. Analysts project iPhone revenue will rise less than 1% this fiscal year compared with the preceding year, when sales rose 39% and helped fuel Apple’s greatest year ever.