Apple Beats Estimates With Record $114.5 Billion Quarter, but Shares Slip on Margin Warning

CUPERTINO, Calif., Nov. 2 (TodayViralUSA) — Apple posted record September-quarter sales on Monday and beat Wall Street’s profit estimates, but its shares slid in after-hours trading after the company forecast lower margins for the holiday quarter, citing rising memory-chip costs and heavier spending on artificial intelligence.

Revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended Sept. 26, rose 12% from a year earlier to $114.5 billion, above the $113.39 billion analysts expected, according to LSEG data cited by CNBC. Earnings were $2.10 a share, up 14% and ahead of the $1.99 consensus. The results capped what Apple called its best fiscal year ever for revenue and earnings per share.

iPhone and Mac lead the quarter

iPhone revenue climbed 17% to $57.58 billion, a September-quarter record, helped by early demand for the iPhone 18 Pro lineup and higher prices, Reuters reported. Mac sales jumped 24% to $10.79 billion. iPad revenue fell 10% to $6.23 billion, and wearables, home and accessories slipped 8% to $8.3 billion, both below estimates. Apple blamed supply constraints and tough comparisons with product launches a year earlier.

Services, which includes the App Store, iCloud, Apple Music and advertising, hit an all-time high of $31.57 billion, but growth slowed to about 10%, the slowest pace since 2022, according to CNBC.

Gross margin was 47.9%, including a benefit of about one percentage point from tariff refunds after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s tariffs, Variety reported. The refunds also added 5 cents to earnings per share.

Outlook weighs on the stock

For the December quarter, Apple expects revenue to grow 7% to 10%, which would be its best quarter on record, and services growth of 8% to 9%, below the roughly 10.7% analysts had expected, Reuters said. It forecast gross margin of 45% to 46%, under the 46.3% average estimate.

Shares had already closed down 1.83% at $338.32 in the regular session. They fell as much as 4.4% during the conference call before ending the after-hours session at about $328.81, down 2.8%, according to 9to5Mac.

The report was the first for John Ternus as chief executive since he took over in September. “It’s a privilege to be with you for the first time as Apple CEO,” Ternus said on the call. Chief financial officer Kevan Parekh said Apple’s installed base had passed 2.5 billion active devices.