By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla
Apple held its quarterly earnings call today to disclose financial results for fiscal 2013 fourth quarter ended September 28, 2013. Apple, which recently introduced new iPhones as well as iPads, had a quarterly revenue of $37.5 billion and quarterly net profit of $7.5 billion, or $8.26 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $36 billion and net profit of $8.2 billion, or $8.67 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Which was expected.
“We’re pleased to report a strong finish to an amazing year with record fourth quarter revenue, including sales of almost 34 million iPhones,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. "We’re excited to go into the holidays with our new iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s, iOS 7, the new iPad mini with Retina Display and the incredibly thin and light iPad Air, new MacBook Pros, the radical new Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks and the next generation iWork and iLife apps for OS X and iOS.”
Apple has had a landmark year in terms of product releases. Most notably, it ushered in huge updates to iOS 7 mobile OS and introduced brand new iPhones and iPads. Apple also updated most of its desktop and portable lines while introducing OS X Mavericks, the latest version of the desktop operating system which it is now offering for free.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said that "It's going to be an iPad Christmas," as the new iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina Display are expected to be popular items in the holiday buying season. It was also hinted at during the call that high demand for the new iPad mini at the year end might be met with short supply.
Apple is providing the following guidance for its fiscal 2014 first quarter:
- revenue between $55 billion and $58 billion
- gross margin between 36.5 percent and 37.5 percent
- operating expenses between $4.4 billion and $4.5 billion
- other income/(expense) of $200 million
- tax rate of 26.25 percent
Apple will provide live streaming of its Q4 2013 financial results conference call beginning at 2:00 p.m. PDT on October 28, 2013 at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq413. This webcast will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter.