On Tuesday afternoon, Apple (AAPL -3.19%) proved to investors it isn't stuck in a cycle of declining revenue. After reporting a 5% year-over-year decline in revenue in fiscal Q2, it returned to top-line growth in its fiscal third quarter as services revenue hit a record high and growth in wearables sales accelerated.
Here's a look at the results.
Watchbands at an Apple store. Image source: Apple.
Apple third-quarter results: The raw numbers
|
Metric |
Q3 2019 |
Q3 2018 |
Change |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Revenue |
$53.8 billion |
$53.3 billion |
1% |
|
Earnings per share |
$2.18 |
$2.34 |
(7%) |
|
Gross profit margin |
37.6% |
38.3% |
(70 basis points) |
Data source: Apple.
Apple's fiscal third-quarter revenue rose 1% year over year to $53.8 billion, above the midpoint of management's guidance range of $52.5 billion to $54.5 billion. This is a nice change after two quarters in a row of declining revenue.
Earnings per share for the period were $2.18, down 7% year over year. But this decline moderated from the 10% year-over-year decrease the metric saw in Q2 2019.
Tapping into its massive cash hoard, Apple repurchased $17 billion worth of its shares during the quarter and paid $3.6 billion in dividends.
"This was our biggest June quarter ever -- driven by all-time record revenue from Services, accelerating growth from Wearables, strong performance from iPad and Mac, and significant improvement in iPhone trends," CEO Tim Cook said in the third-quarter earnings release.
Segment results
|
Segment |
Q3 2019 Revenue |
Q3 2018 Revenue |
Change |
|---|---|---|---|
|
iPhone |
$26.0 billion |
$29.5 billion |
(12%) |
|
Mac |
$5.8 billion |
$5.3 billion |
11% |
|
iPad |
$5.0 billion |
$4.5 billion |
8% |
|
Wearables, home, and accessories |
$5.5 billion |
$3.7 billion |
48% |
|
Services |
$11.5 billion |
$10.2 billion |
13% |
Data source: Apple.
The iPhone once again accounted for the bulk of revenue, representing 48% of total sales during the period. While this important segment saw its revenue fall 12% year over year, it was a notable improvement from the 17% year-over-year decrease it saw in fiscal Q2.
Apple's second-largest segment, services, saw revenue increase 13% year over year to an all-time quarterly record of $11.5 billion. Accounting for 21% of total revenue, the segment is becoming increasingly important to the company's results.
Also of note was an acceleration in Apple's wearables, home, and accessories segment, which includes revenue from the Apple Watch, AirPods, HomePods, and other accessories. Revenue in that segment surged 48% year over year, versus 30% growth in fiscal Q2.
The outlook
Looking ahead to its fiscal fourth quarter, management said it expected revenue to be between $61 billion and $64 billion. The high end of that range would mean a second quarter in a row of year-over-year revenue growth, since Apple's fourth-quarter revenue in fiscal 2018 was $62.9 billion.
