Over hyped?
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) announced its results for the last quarter, its third, yesterday and they were its best ever for the quarter ended 28th June. Try telling that to Wall Street, however, as it clearly expected more. Apple shares were down ten percent in pre-market trading as the street expressed its disappointment in the only way it knows.
Still, it could be worse; Apple posted revenue of $7.46 billion in the quarter and net profit of $1.07 billion. Those are increases of 38 percent and 31 percent respectively but, as implied, margin was down to 34.8 percent from 36.9 percent a year ago. International sales made up 42 percent of the total.
The Mac situation was looking pretty healthy, with nearly 2.5 million units shipped - 41 percent more than a year ago. Unlike many other parts of the PC industry, no margin was sacrificed to achieve this growth, with Mac revenue growth increasing 43 percent on the same quarter in '07.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs was his usual effusive self: “We’re proud to report the best June quarter for both revenue and earnings in Apple’s history. We set a new record for Mac sales, we think we have a real winner with our new iPhone 3G, and we’re busy finishing several more wonderful new products to launch in the coming months.”
