Apple shares were down as much as 6.5 percent in after-hours trading Tuesday as the largest company by market capitalization missed both earnings and sales estimates.
Apple’s third-quarter revenue was $35.02 billion versus consensus expectations of $37.25 billion, and it saw declines in every world geographic region where it sells its products. The company also revised down its guidance for fourth-quarter revenue to $34 billion instead of $38 billion previously forecast.
Goldman Sachs analyst Bill Shope commented in a note to clients, “We should receive further color on this outlook during the conference call, though this is likely due to the pre-iPhone 5 demand pause that impacted the June quarter as well.” EPS came in at $9.32 versus expectations of $10.37.
The company said it sold 17 million iPads in the April to June quarter, well ahead of the expectation of 15.4 million units. IPods sold declined 10 percent to 6.8 million but also beat expectations of 6.6 million units sold. The number of Mac computers sold was 4 million versus 4.3 million expected.
However, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook did not share the market’s concern, saying: “We’re thrilled with record sales of 17 million iPads in the June quarter. We’ve also just updated the entire MacBook line, will release Mountain Lion tomorrow, and will be launching iOS 6 this fall. We are also really looking forward to the amazing new products we’ve got in the pipeline.”
Apart from its record market cap at $560 billion, Apple is also the most popular stock by far with hedge funds, as 226 funds owned the stock in the first quarter of 2012 according to 13-F filings.
