Apple Q4 Results Disappoint Investors

Apple’s fourth quarter results may have exceeded Wall Street’s exceptions, but the news wasn’t all to the company’s liking as disappointing iPad and Mac sales offset the iPhone’s strong performance.

The company, one of the richest in the world, posted revenue of $37.5 billion (£23.6bn) and net profit of $7.5 billion ($8.26 per share, down 8.6 percent from 2012), compared to $36 billion and $8.2 billion in the year-ago quarter. Apple’s stock price fell $6.45 in after-hours trading to $523.43.

Strong iPhone sales

However iPad sales were flat, and Mac sales were down. Apple also sold 14.1 million iPads during the quarter, compared to 14 million in the same quarter last year, while it sold 4.6 million Macs, compared to 4.9 million in the same quarter last year.

iPhone sales were strong; Apple sold 33.8 million of them, a record for the fourth fiscal quarter, compared to 26.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2012, but the company still has problems moving them internationally. This is because an increasing number of buyers are moving to less-expensive Android phones made by Samsung, HTC, Motorola and Nokia.

Apple sold 26 percent more iPhones than it did a year ago, but revenue from the product line was down 17 percent. The average iPhone sale price of $577, was down $4 from three months ago and down a full 10 percent from a year ago.

However Apple is hoping for a boost ahead of the Christmas shopping season and told investors it expects revenues of between $55 billion and $58 billion during the first quarter of 2014. Last week, it unveiled new versions of the iPad, iPad Mini, Mac and Mac Pro, while there is also likely to be strong demand for the iPhone 5C and 5S, which were announced in September.

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