Apple Reports Q3 Earnings: $53.3B Revenue Fueled By 41.3M iPhones

Apple on Tuesday announced its financial results for the fiscal third-quarter (Q3) of 2018, which concluded on June 30, posting quarterly revenue of $53.3 billion — an increase of 17 percent from the same quarter last year — based largely on sales of 41.3 million iPhone handsets garnering a net profit of $11.5 billion.

“We’re thrilled to report Apple’s best June quarter ever, and our fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth,” said Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook.

“Our Q3 results were driven by continued strong sales of iPhone, Services and Wearables, and we are very excited about the products and services in our pipeline.”

“Our strong business performance drove revenue growth in each of our geographic segments, net income of $11.5 billion, and operating cash flow of $14.5 billion,” added Chief Financial Officer, Luca Maestri. “We returned almost $25 billion to investors through our capital return program during the quarter, including $20 billion in share repurchases.”

Image via Mac Rumors

Key Takeaways

Below is a brief rundown of the key points presented during Apple’s Q3 conference call with investors:

• The company reported a net profit of $11.5 billion in Q3, which comes out to an added $2.34 per diluted share. In comparison, Apple reported revenue of $45.4 billion — and a net quarterly profit of $8.7 billion, or $1.67 per diluted share — for the same quarter last year.
• Apple’s gross margin for the quarter was 38.3 percent in comparison to 38.5 percent in the same quarter last year; and of the total 41.3 million iPhones sold during Q3, an estimated 60 percent were shipped in international markets.
• Apple sold roughly 300,000 more iPhones during the third-quarter of 2018 than the 41.0 million sold during the same quarter a year ago.
• Mac sales reportedly dipped from 4.29 million sold during the same quarter last year down to 3.72 million sold in Q3 2018.
• Meanwhile, iPad sales rose slightly year over year up to 11.55 million units from the 11.42 million sold last year. 

Apple also declared a quarterly dividend payment of $0.73 cents per share, which will be distributed on August 16 to current shareholders.

Future Guidance

Apple has provided guidance for its fiscal fourth-quarter (Q4) 2018, projecting a gross revenue between $60 billion and $62 billion, a gross margin of between 38 and 38.5 percent, and operating expenses of between $7.95 billion and $8.05 billion based on a tax rate of approximately 15 percent.