Apple Reports Holiday Earnings And They're Less Than Stellar

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For years Apple has been fairly consistent in bringing in some good numbers for its shareholders. But their most recent holiday earnings report has them just about flat. Which isn’t horrible, flat is better than a loss. Still, this is not what shareholders have come to expect from the company. One only needs to look at the rising sales of Android handsets to understand why this is happening. Android is the fastest growing mobile OS and is real true competition for Apple. While there is a fair share of junk Android handsets on the market I think consumers are finally understanding that and choosing Android handsets more wisely. Have a look at what The Wall Street Journal reported today.

The Wall Street Journal

For the quarter ended Dec. 28, Apple reported a profit of $13.07 billion, slightly below $13.08 billion in the year-ago period. However, Apple’s per-share earnings rose to $14.50 from $13.81 because the company’s stock repurchase program decreased the pool of total shares.

Revenue grew 5.7% to $57.59 billion from $54.51 billion in the same period a year earlier. Analysts, on average, estimated that Apple would post earnings of $14.07 per share on revenue of $57.46 billion, according to Thomson Reuters. Apple in October had projected revenue between $55 billion and $58 billion. In the first quarter, Apple added that it generated $22.7 billion in cash flow from operations. For the current quarter to March, Apple is forecasting revenue to range between $42 billion and $44 billion. Analysts had expected $46.05 billion.

Android invasion, Sydney, Australia (Photo credit: Pranav Bhatt)

So it’s not all doom and gloom for Apple but it does show that the competition is pounding on the door and it’s time they took notice. The rumors of a 4.7″ iPhone 6 and even a 5″+ iPhone Phablet are stirring a buzz within the community. While there are tons of 4.7″ phones and 5″+ Phablets out there already. The hope is that Apple will be able to bring something new into that market and maybe bring back some of the magic they had with their iPhone and iPad launches. But it remains to be seen if they can pull it off, the competition is fierce and there are a lot of phones and phablets from Samsung, LG and HTC that are simply awesome. Apple will really have to make something innovative to attract buyers back to Cupertino.

Source: The Wall Street Journal