The leader in the tech industry delivered its quarterly earnings data for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2019 yesterday, and it surpassed all of the consensus forecasts, which were already high.
Apple announced that its Earnings Per Share (EPS) reached $4.99 vs $4.54 expected. These results measure a 19 per cent surge compared to the reported data for the same period a year prior.
This is the company’s best quarterly performance on record, which surpassed the previous all-time record of $4.18, which was delivered for the same period a year earlier.
Revenue reached $91.8 billion, an increase of 9 per cent year-over-year, which generated a positive surprise exceeding with almost 10 billion the preliminary forecasts.
Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, commented on the posted quarterly results by saying that:
“We are thrilled to report Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever, fueled by strong demand for our iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro models, and all-time records for Services and Wearables. […] During the holiday quarter, our active installed base of devices grew in each of our geographic segments and has now reached over 1.5 billion. We see this as a powerful testament to the satisfaction, engagement and loyalty of our customers — and a great driver of our growth across the board."
The final quarter of last year turned out to be very positive for Apple, as solid consumer sentiment and gradually diminishing trade tensions globally contributed to heightened demand for the company’s newest iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro models.
Especially strong was the company's posted performance internationally, as more than 60 per cent of the generated revenue came from overseas, which illustrates the tech giant’s resilience to external pressures from geopolitical risks.
Now that the US and China have signed Phase One of their trade negotiations, this trend of rising international sales can be expected to extend at least until the next quarter.
Regardless, the recent outbreak of the deadly coronavirus in China has prompted some concerns on Wall Street concerning the stability of the still reeling global economy.
The fragile economic recovery which was initiated with the beginning of this year is now put at risk as panic sweeps across international exchanges and the stock market is put at risk of registering a new selloff.
Thus far, the tech sector appears to be showing no signs of slowing down; however, the situation could turn for the worse if the virus is not contained soon, and the situation becomes more dangerous.
Therefore, Apple’s shares could still suffer from the spread of the coronavirus in the midterm despite the solid quarterly performance.
Meanwhile, Apple's shares opened with a 2.27 per cent positive gap in today's trading session.