Apple Q4 2013 Results 28 October 2013 | Apple Q4 2013 Results 10.28.2013 | App Q4 2013 Earnings | Q4 2013 Results Apple

Apple Q4 2013 Results 28 October 2013 | Apple Q4 2013 Results 10.28.2013 | App Q4 2013 Earnings | Q4 2013 Results Apple

Apple today announced financial results for the third calendar and fourth fiscal quarter of 2013. For the quarter, Apple posted revenue of $37.5 billion and net quarterly profit of $7.5 billion, or $8.26 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $36 billion and net quarterly profit of $8.2 billion, or $7.05 per diluted share in the year-ago quarter. Apple also announced it had sold 33.8 million iPhones, a record for the September quarter (compared to 26.9 million in the same quarter a year ago), as well as $14.1 million iPads and 4.6 million Macs.

Gross margin for the quarter was 37 percent compared to 40.0 percent in the year-ago quarter, with international sales accounting for 60 percent of revenue. Apple also declared a dividend payment of $3.05 per share, payable on November 14 to shareholders as of the close of trading on November 11. The company currently holds $146.8 billion in cash and marketable securities. Though quarterly revenue increased thanks in part to Apple's two new iPhones, it was not enough to bolster Apple's profits, as they shrank from $8.2 billion in the year-ago quarter to $7.5 billion in Q4 2013. Sales of the iPhone went up from 26.9 million in Q4 2012 to 33.8 million in Q4 2013, but the iPad was flat year-over-year (14.1 million in sales, but a decline in revenue of 13 percent) and the Mac was down in sales from 4.9 million in Q4 2012 to 4.6 million in Q4 2013.

The company generated $9.9 billion in free cash flow from operations and Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said Apple returned $7.8 billion in cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. Though Q4 2013 was not expected to be a tremendous quarter for Apple, the company was still expected to release better-than-expected results. By releasing the two new iPhones so late in the September quarter, Apple certainly bolstered its revenue figures for that particular product line, as well as its overall business in Q4. For the full fiscal year, Apple generated $170.9 billion in sales, a new record for the firm, with just over $35 billion in net income.

In fiscal 2012, Apple made $41.7 billion on $156.5 billion in sales thanks to stronger margins. In 2013, Apple sold 16.34 million Macs, its lowest total since 2010, and 26.4 million iPods, its lowest total for that category since 2005. Apple's guidance for the first quarter of fiscal 2014 includes expected revenue of $55-58 billion and gross margin between 36.5 and 37.5 percent. Apple will also have a handful of new Macs powered by its new OS X Mavericks platform in Q1 2014, including an updated Retina MacBook Pro line and the redesigned Mac Pro, which hasn’t seen a meaningful update since 2010.