SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 28 (Reuters) – Apple Inc’s
quarterly revenue barely beat Wall Street’s heightened
expectations after it sold a solid 33.8 million iPhones in the
September quarter, but gross margins and profit slid,
disappointing some investors.
Shares in the company were down more than 2 percent after
hours.
Commentary:
SHANNON CROSS, CROSS RESEARCH
“They guided for a solid quarter and it came in a little bit
above where they guided. The upside looks like more aggressive
share-repurchase and better iPhone numbers than people were
expecting.
“They’re guiding for another solid quarter and indicating
that they’re going to continue along their path of aggressively
returning cash, although not as aggressively as (Carl) Icahn
might like.
“Clearly the iPhone is doing very well at 33 million sold.
There was a point in time when people were talking about this
quarter as potentially really low for iPhone units, but now the
basic consensus on the street is the iPhone is still doing well.
“Their operating expense is up a bit more than I
anticipated. They’re going to be very aggressive in terms of
their marketing.
“They had already preannounced and people got euphoric in
recent weeks. It wasn’t a massive blowout. They’re taking a much
more pragmatic, rational guidance these days.”
DANIEL ERNST, ANALYST, HUDSON SQUARE RESEARCH
On why Apple’s stock fell following the report: “Irrational
expectations on part of over-exuberant analysts trying to have
the high number.”
SHEBLY SEYRAFI, ANALYST, FBN SECURITIES
“The Mac revenue was on the light side and it was negatively
impacted by a sharp decline in the blended ASPs.
“My view is they were going to take an iPad hit in front of
the new cycle. That was to be expected. I don’t think they
terribly ‘upsided’ the gross margin as much as some people would
have wanted.”
BRIAN COLELLO, ANALYST, MORNINGSTAR
“All eyes are on guidance.
“With Apple focusing on premium products, maintaining their
pricing, ignoring calls for a low-cost iPhone in China, I think
we would have expected higher gross margins.
“With the higher-price phones and clear preference toward
the 5S, we were all expecting more of a gross margin boost for
the December quarter.”
(Reporting by Noel Randewich and Gerry Shih)
