Apple today released its financial update to the investment community for the second quarter of 2020. This will be followed by the usual earnings call, which Apple World Today will cover in more detail in a separate post.
The markets have been anxiously awaiting word this week from the big tech companies, since Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon make up a tremendous percentage of the total value of tech stocks. This is the first earnings week since the start of the current COVID-19 crisis, so good — or not as bad as expected — news could be a bellwether for how fast the markets will respond in a recovery.
The news? The quarterly revenue was up from the year-ago quarter, boosted by unprecedented growth in the services and wearables sector.
The following is taken from Apple’s press release:
Cupertino, California — April 30, 2020 — Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2020 second quarter ended March 28, 2020. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $58.3 billion, an increase of 1 percent from the year-ago quarter, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $2.55, up 4 percent. International sales accounted for 62 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
“Despite COVID-19’s unprecedented global impact, we’re proud to report that Apple grew for the quarter, driven by an all-time record in Services and a quarterly record for Wearables,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “In this difficult environment, our users are depending on Apple products in renewed ways to stay connected, informed, creative, and productive. We feel motivated and inspired to not only keep meeting these needs in innovative ways, but to continue giving back to support the global response, from the tens of millions of face masks and custom-built face shields we’ve sent to medical professionals around the world, to the millions we’ve donated to organizations like Global Citizen and America’s Food Fund.”
“We are proud of our Apple teams around the world and how resilient our business and financial performance has been during these challenging times,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “Our active installed base of devices reached an all-time high in all of our geographic segments and all major product categories. We also generated operating cash flow of $13.3 billion during the quarter, up $2.2 billion over a year ago. We are confident in our future and continue to make significant investments in all areas of our business to enrich our customers’ lives and support our long-term plans — including our five-year commitment to contribute $350 billion to the United States economy.”
Apple’s board of directors has declared a cash dividend of $0.82 per share of the Company’s common stock, an increase of 6 percent. The dividend is payable on May 14, 2020 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 11, 2020. The board of directors has also authorized an increase of $50 billion to the existing share repurchase program.
Apple will provide live streaming of its Q2 2020 financial results conference call beginning at 2:00 p.m. PT on April 30, 2020 at www.apple.com/investor/earnings-call/. This webcast will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter.
