By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com - Apple reported on Thursday third-quarter results that beat analysts' forecasts as iPhone revenue topped estimates despite the impact from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The company approved a four-for-one stock split to "make the stock more accessible to a broader base of investors."
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares gained 1.23% in after-hours trade following the report.
Apple announced earnings per share of $2.58 on revenue of $59.69B. Analysts polled by Investing.com anticipated EPS of $2.02 on revenue of $51.77B.
“Apple’s record June quarter was driven by double-digit growth in both Products and Services and growth in each of our geographic segments,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive. "The record business results drove our active installed base of devices to an all-time high in all of our geographic segments and all major product categories."
iPhone revenue rose 1.6% to $26.4 billion from a year earlier, topping estimates of $22 billion.
Revenue for the company’s fast-growing services segment, which includes Apple Music, Apple News and iCloud storage – rose 14.8% to $13.1 billion from a year earlier.
Apple shares (NASDAQ:AAPL) are up 31% from the beginning of the year, still down 3.77% from its 52-week high of $399.82 set on July 13. They are outperforming the Nasdaq 100 which is up 22.7% from the start of the year.
"Apple is well positioned to weather the pandemic-triggered downturn, helped by its services business, wearable products, and its stock buyback program. Along with strong momentum in the company’s services business, Apple is still driving innovation along with new ways to use technology hardware and software in order to fuel sales once the pandemic is contained. Any dip in Apple shares, in our view, should be taken as a buying opportunity, given the company’s strong global brand, cash position, and its push to diversify its revenue stream," Investing.com analyst Haris Anwar said.
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