On Tuesday, January 27th, Apple announced December quarter results with record revenue of $74.599 billion, record net income of $18.024 billion and record earnings per share of $3.06. Beyond those superlatives, Apple also set a global record for quarterly net income of any publicly-traded enterprise in history. The depth, spread and scope of Apple’s December quarter success caught even the most bullish Wall Street analysts by surprise.
The good news for Apple shareholders is the company’s December quarter results are not a crescendo but merely the first fiscal episode in a new epoch of outsized enterprise success.
The Earnings Trend Is Again Apple’s Friend
The graphs below illustrate the dramatic change in the company’s revenue and earnings trends delivered in the December quarter.
Against a backdrop of foreign exchange headwinds, Apple’s recognized revenue on a sequential basis rocketed higher by 77.1% in the period. On a year-over-year basis, revenue rose 29.53% The December quarter delivered the highest rate of year-over-year revenue growth since the March quarter of FY2012, nearly three years ago. On a sequential basis, the rate of revenue growth was the fastest rate of growth in the study period of just over six fiscal years or twenty five fiscal quarters.
On a year-over-year basis, Apple’s 47.83% rise in earnings per share was the fastest rate of growth since the March quarter of FY2012 and on a sequential basis, the fastest rate of growth in the twenty five fiscal quarters under study. Aided by the ongoing $90 billion share repurchase program, Apple’s record net income of $18.024 billion translated into earnings per share of $3.06 in the December quarter. In the period net income rose 37.88%.
