Apple delivered another stunning quarter, crushing earnings estimates across the board. Apple registered nearly $40 billion of iPhone sales in its fiscal third quarter, beating Wall Street expectations by an eye-watering $5 billion.
Yet the euphoria quickly turned to disappointment for investors as Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said revenue growth would slow in the September quarter. The “very strong double-digit” growth, Maestri said, won’t match the 36% growth in the June quarter.
A less favorable foreign exchange impact, normalizing services growth, and supply constraints from the global chip shortage were the culprits, Apple’s finance chief said. The stock took a few bumps in after-hours trading on Wednesday as investors digested those comments.
Renowned Wedbush tech analyst Dan Ives sees it differently and said Apple’s “drop the mic” quarter was the next step in driving the stock to a $3 trillion market cap. China was the star of the show, he said, where sales grew 58% in a region key to the Apple bull thesis. The impact of the chip shortage was neutralized by iPhone and services strength, he added.
But it’s the 5G supercycle that could be key to the continuing demand story. A significant proportion of iPhone users have not upgraded their phones in recent years, and the iPhone 13 isn’t far away.
While Apple’s supply warning must not be ignored, it’s worth remembering that the company warned in April that it could take a $3 billion to $4 billion hit from the semiconductor crisis in the third quarter. Look how that turned out.