Apple (AAPL) -) posted better-than-expected third quarter earnings Thursday, with services revenues offsetting a slump in iPhone sales ahead of its traditional September product launch.
Apple said earnings for the three months ending in June, the group's fiscal third quarter, were pegged at $1.26 per share, a tally that was up 5% last year and 7 cents ahead of the Street consensus forecast of $1.19 per share.
Group revenues, Apple said, fell 1.4% from last year to $81.8 billion, but narrowly topped analysts' estimates of an $81.69 billion tally.
Apple said iPhone revenues fell 2.5% from last year to $39.67 billion, just outside of the Street's 39.9 billion forecast, while China sales rose 1.1% from last year's Covid-hit period in the world's second largest economy to $15.76 billion.
Revenues from Apple's key services business -- which includes Apple Pay, iCloud and Apple TV --- rose 8.2% to $21.21 billion.
Hardware sales, as expected were soft: Mac sales fell 7.3% from last year to $6.84 billion, Apple said, and iPad sales were down 19% to $5.8 billion. Wearables sales, which includes the AppleWatch, rose 2.5% to $8.28 billion.
“We are happy to report that we had an all-time revenue record in Services during the June quarter, driven by over 1 billion paid subscriptions, and we saw continued strength in emerging markets thanks to robust sales of iPhone,” said CEO Tim Cook. “From education to the environment, we are continuing to advance our values, while championing innovation that enriches the lives of our customers and leaves the world better than we found it.”
Apple shares were marked 2.6% lower in after-hours trading immediately following the earnings release to indicate a Friday opening bell price of $186.30 each.
"Even with revenues down for the third straight quarter, it was better than anticipated," said David Wagner, portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advsiers. "I think this shows that there remains some hardware headwinds, which may give us a read on the overall consumer right now."
