Apple Inc. has declared its earnings report for the third quarter of 2020, scoring way past what the Wall Street had estimated. Company’s overall revenues for Q3’2020 stands at $59.7 bn, which is an 11% year-on-year increment. The company also delivered quarterly earnings per share of $2.58, which has increased by 18%. Both numbers have smashed past street expectations of $52.25 billion and $2.04 EPS respectively.
Amid the worldwide pandemic situation, the majority of Apple’s sales revenue came from international markets, accounting for about 60% of overall revenues. Apple mentioned that both products and services led to an overall growth which has reflected across all geographic segments.
iPhone revenues jumped by $500 mn from last year, currently standing at $26.4 bn. The affordable iPhone SE that had launched in April helped boost this quarter’s earnings. Apple Services (includes iCloud & Apple Music) generated $13.1 bn in revenues this year. It was at $11.5 bn last year. The wearables segment delivered great performance as well. Its revenue is currently $6.4 bn, which is $0.9 bn above last year’s value.
The only disappointment in the earnings, was a possible delay in the launch of newer iPhones. Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri confirmed supply chain issues and that the new lineup of iPhones, usually released in late September, would face delays of a few weeks.
Some brilliant earnings performance couple with an already bullish run on the market led to Apple stock price soaring past the $400 mark for the first time. This led to the company announcing a stock split, to “make the stock more accessible to a broader base of investors”. The company announced a 4:1 stock split. Shareholders at the close of trading on 24th August will receive three more shares for each one they own. The post split trading will begin on 31st August. This marks the company’s fifth stock split followed by the one occurred in 2014.
Apple, Google-parent Alphabet, Facebook, Amazon are among those to have announced blockbuster earnings, all at the same day. Interestingly though, the numbers come at the same time when U.S. gross domestic product collapsed at a 32.9% annualized rate last quarter, the nation’s worst economic performance since the Great Depression.
Earnings reports from the ‘BigTech’ follow the recent grilling of the CEOs of four of the world’s biggest tech companies, including Apple CEO Tim Cook. The companies were called out to determine whether they have misused their power in the industry. Apple was particularly questioned on the commission structure it employs for its App Store and its suppression of competitive apps.
