On Thursday, Apple delivered fiscal fourth-quarter results that surpassed expectations, driven by increased sales of iPhones and Macs, although it faced a substantial one-time tax charge of $10.2 billion connected to a European court order issued in September. For the three-month period concluding on September 28, the tech giant's adjusted earnings per share stood at $1.64, slightly above the consensus forecast from analysts on Capital IQ, which anticipated normalized EPS of $1.60. This performance excluded the significant tax charge stemming from the European Union's Court of Justice ruling that required Apple to repay 13 billion euros ($14.13 billion) in taxes to Ireland.
Consequently, Apple's net income per share fell to $0.97 compared to $1.46 in the same quarter of the previous year. Additionally, operating expenses increased to $14.29 billion from $13.46 billion year-over-year. In premarket trading on Friday, Apple's shares slid by 1.2%. The company's fourth-quarter sales climbed 6% to hit $94.93 billion, outperforming market expectations of $94.42 billion.
iPhone sales rose to $46.22 billion, compared to $43.81 billion last year, reflecting growth across all geographic segments, as Chief Executive Tim Cook highlighted during an earnings call. Mac revenues also grew, reaching $7.74 billion, up from $7.61 billion, while iPad sales saw an 8% increase to $6.95 billion. Conversely, sales from wearables, home products, and accessories experienced a 3% decline, totaling $9.04 billion, while services revenue surged to $24.97 billion from $22.31 billion in the previous year.
CFO Luca Maestri remarked on the call, "Services continued to see strong momentum with the growth of our installed base of active devices setting a solid foundation for the future expansion of our ecosystem." Apple observed growth across all its geographic segments, including the Americas, Europe, and Japan; however, sales in the critical China market dipped slightly, from $15.08 billion to $15.03 billion compared to the same quarter last year.
Wedbush Securities noted that China "should now be on a pace to show high-single-digit growth" and possibly double-digit growth as the iPhone 16 cycle unfolds in the region. When looking ahead, the company projects overall revenue growth of low- to mid-single digits for the upcoming December quarter, according to Maestri’s comments to analysts.
This guidance falls short of the Street’s growth forecast of 7%, as per Wedbush's analysis. Nonetheless, the brokerage foresees that the outlook suggests potential iPhone revenue growth of 5%, aligning with market expectations. Services revenue for the current quarter is anticipated to grow significantly, while gross margin is expected to be between 46% and 47%.
In the September quarter, the gross margin reported was 46.2%..