Consumer electronics giant Apple (AAPL) late Thursday narrowly beat Wall Street’s estimates for its fiscal second quarter. The iPhone maker also raised its quarterly dividend and stock buyback plan. Apple stock rose in extended trading.
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The Cupertino, Calif.-based company earned $1.53 a share on sales of $90.8 billion in the quarter ended March 30. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected Apple earnings of $1.51 a share on sales of $90.4 billion. On a year-over-year basis, Apple earnings rose a fraction while sales fell 4%.
The company increased its dividend 4% to 25 cents a share. The Apple board authorized a $110 billion share repurchase plan.
In the March quarter, Apple’s hardware sales fell 10% year over year to $66.9 billion while services revenue rose 14% to a record high of $23.9 billion.
Apple Stock Rises After Report
In the June quarter, Apple expects its total revenue to rise by a low single-digit percentage rate, Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said on a conference call with analysts. The company expects iPad sales to grow at a double-digit rate in the period, he said. Meanwhile, services growth will be in the double digits, similar to the first half of the fiscal year.
In after-hours trading on the stock market today, Apple stock climbed 6.8% to 184.78. During the regular session Thursday, Apple stock rose 2.2% to close at 173.03.
Year to date through Thursday’s close, Apple stock was down 10% as it faces headwinds such as weak sales in China, a mature smartphone market, and lack of an artificial intelligence strategy.
Apple’s iPhone revenue sank 10.5% to $45.96 billion and accounted for 51% of the company’s total sales in fiscal Q2.
Meanwhile, Apple’s Mac computer sales rose 4% to $7.45 billion. However, iPad tablet sales dropped 17% to $5.56 billion.
Finally, revenue from Apple’s wearables, home and accessories unit fell 10% to $7.91 billion.
Follow Patrick Seitz on X, formerly Twitter, at @IBD_PSeitz for more stories on consumer technology, software and semiconductor stocks.
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