Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Tuesday reported positive results for the first quarter of 2020. Earnings moved up 19% aided by record-high revenues and surpassed Wall Street’s prediction, driving the tech giant’s stock higher during the after-market session.
Revenue from product sales rose 8% annually and service revenue advanced 17%. Consequently, net revenues moved up 9% to an all-time high of $91.8 billion, surpassing the consensus estimate. International sales accounted for 61% of the total revenues.
iPhone Shines
The top-line growth was driven mainly by strong demand for the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro models, supported by solid performance by the wearables and service segments.
iPhone sales increased 8% to $55.96 billion in the first three months of 2020. Wearables, Home & Accessories sales were up 37%. Meanwhile, sales of Mac and iPad dropped 3% and 11% respectively from the year-ago period.
Earnings up 19%
At $4.99 per share, first-quarter earnings were up 19% year-over-year and above the market’s estimate. Net income rose to $22.24 billion from $19.97 billion in the first quarter of 2019.
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said, “During the holiday quarter our active installed base of devices grew in each of our geographic segments and has now reached over 1.5 billion. We see this as a powerful testament to the satisfaction, engagement and loyalty of our customers — and a great driver of our growth across the board.”
Outlook
The management currently expects revenues to be in the range of $63 billion and $67 billion in the second quarter of 2020, when operating expense is estimated to range from $9.6 billion to $9.7 billion. Other income is forecast to be at $250 million and tax rate at 16.5%.
During the quarter, Apple returned about $25 billion to shareholders, including $20 billion in share repurchases and $3.5 billion in dividends and equivalents. Also, the board of directors declared a cash dividend of $0.77 per share, to be paid on February 13, 2020, to shareholders of record on February 10, 2020.
Apple shares have outperformed the S&P 500 index consistently for about two years. Last week, they reached a new high but pared most of the gains later. The stock closed Tuesday’s regular trading higher and continued to gain during the extended session.