With the AAPL EPS whisper number pointing to an EPS somewhere about 10-15 cents above the EPS consensus of 1.30, moments ago AAPL did not disappoint and reported Q4 EPS of $1.42, a solid 12 cent beat to expectations, a comparable beat to the top line beat, with $42.12 billion in revenue, also well above the $39.9 Bn estimate. The gross margin of 38% was right on top of expectations. In terms of product breakdown, AAPL sold 39.3 million iPhones, above the 38 million expected, with Mac unit sales of 5.52 million also above the 4.84 million expected, with only iPad sales of 12.3 million missing the 13.0 million estimate.
Here is AAPL's guidance for Q1 2014 :
- revenue between $63.5 billion and $66.5 billion, Est. $63.5 billion
- gross margin between 37.5 percent and 38.5 percent, Est. 38%.
- operating expenses between $5.4 billion and $5.5 billion
- other income/(expense) of $325 million
- tax rate of 26.5 percent
For those looking at cash, in fiscal 2014, AAPL generated $59.7 billion in cash from operations, spending $22.6 billion on investing actvities (down from $33.8 billion a year ago), and the remainder was $37.5 billion spent on on common stock and dividends, offset by $12 billion in long-term debt and $6.3 billion in commercial paper. The last is interesting as in 2013 had zero under commercial paper.
Finally, those wondering how much stock AAPL bought back, the answer is $17 billion, which brings the total for 2014 to $45 billion, double the $22.9 billion repurchased in fiscal 2013. This was funded by a combination of cash on hand, which declined to $155 billion, or $9 billion from the previous quarter, even as net cash (excluding debt) declined to $120 billion, the lowest since Q3 2012.
Here is the visual breakdown.
Revenues:
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Margins:
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Segment breakdown:
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Total cash (keep in mind domestic cash is now a tiny fraction of the total):
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And cash, net of long-term debt and commercial paper:
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But the strangest chart of all: AAPL's short-term marketable investments, tumbled from $24.8 billion to $11.2 billion, the lowest since Lehman. Did AAPL just call a market top? The question is in what: Bills or whatever stocks it is that the "world's largest hedge fund you have never heard of" [10]has invested in?
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