When Apple (AAPL 1.27%) reported its first quarter earnings and issued its second-quarter guidance, the midpoint of that revenue guidance was actually a bit jarring at $43 billion, particularly as the Street was expecting more in the vicinity of $46 billion. This represents a slight year-over-year decline from $43.54 billion which, for a technology company like Apple, is something that investors aren't going to take lightly. However, it's important to go beyond the headline numbers (or "numbers on a piece of paper" as Tim Cook would say) to understand the moving parts.

Join Evan Niu, CFA and Fool contributor Ashraf Eassa as they look beyond the numbers on the paper and shed some light on why Apple's guidance was really much better than the headlines would suggest.