Apple stock drops on weak forecast despite record quarterly results
Apple beat expectations with record quarterly revenue, but a weaker-than-expected outlook and supply warnings sent shares down up to 8% in after-hours trading.
Apple posted record quarterly earnings that beat expectations on Thursday, driven by strong iPhone and Mac sales, but investors shifted focus to a softer-than-expected sales forecast and warnings about supply constraints. The company's shares slid as much as 8% in after-hours trading before recovering some ground. The report marked Tim Cook's final earnings call as CEO after 15 years; hardware engineering chief John Ternus takes over on September 1.
For the April–June period, Apple earned $29.79bn, or $2.02 per share, up 27% from $23.43bn, or $1.57 per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 16% to $109.42bn from $94.04bn. iPhone revenue grew 21.7% to a quarterly record of $54.25bn, while Mac revenue climbed 28.7% to $10.35bn. Analysts on average had expected earnings of $1.89 per share on revenue of around $109bn, according to FactSet. Tariff refunds added $0.11 per share.
Looking ahead, Apple forecast revenue growth of 9% to 11% for the current quarter, below analysts’ estimate of about 12%. The company also faces rising memory-chip costs and a shortage of advanced chipmaking capacity, partly linked to the artificial intelligence boom. Apple has already announced price increases for some Mac and iPad models, and analysts expect possible iPhone price hikes later this year. Cook described the memory price surge as a '100-year flood' and said costs would keep increasing. Analysts note that the September iPhone launch and potential further price adjustments could cushion the impact. Apple recently regained its position as the world's most valuable listed company from Nvidia.
