Shares Dip As Apple Holiday Forecast Disappoints On iPad, Wearables

(CTN News) – In after-hours trading on Thursday, Apple shares decreased about 3% after the company missed Wall Street expectations for the holiday quarter.

Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, insisted that the iPhone 15 is doing well in China despite Wall Street worries. Despite foreign exchange rates, China revenue declined 2.5% overall in the fourth quarter ended Sept. 30.

Apple’s Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri says sales will be similar to last quarter, which includes the Christmas holidays and when new iPhones sell the best. Wall Street expected sales of $122.98 billion.

Shares of Apple, which have gained 37% so far this year, fell 3.4% after-hours.

Even though this year’s holiday quarter has one fewer week of sales than last year, Maestri expects to have higher iPhone sales.

The many geopolitical challenges China faces surprised TECHnanalysis Research’s chief analyst Bob O’Donnell.

An increase in iPhone sales and a $1 billion boost to services revenue helped Apple beat Wall Street expectations on Thursday, offset by large drops in Mac and iPad sales.

The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max devices face supply constraints, according to Cook.

In China, a key market, Apple faces an uneven economic recovery, despite navigating a global smartphone slump better than many of its rivals.

Although sales and profits exceeded expectations, analysts at DA Davidson are concerned about weak sales from China.

Sales fell about 1% to $89.50 billion, but analysts expected $89.28 billion. The net income increased by 11%. LSEG reported $1.46 per share instead of $1.39, analysts expected.

Since U.S. trade restrictions have all but shut Huawei Technologies (HWT.UL) out of the smartphone market for several years,

Apple has been facing tougher competition in the industry.

In the fourth quarter of last year, Sales in China fell to $15.08 billion from $15.47 billion. Apple’s China business grew year-over-year after accounting for foreign exchange rates, according to Cook.

Cook told Reuters that iPhone sales hit a record in mainland China in the September quarter. Four out of five best-selling smartphones were in urban China.”

According to Cook, Apple is “working hard” to manufacture more iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max devices. We believe we will reach a supply-demand balance later this quarter.”

Currently, biggest seller is the iPhone. According to LSEG data, sales were $43.81 billion in the fourth quarter, in line with analyst expectations.

The supply issues with top Pro and Pro Max models will be resolved by (Apple’s fiscal first quarter), says IDC analyst Nabila Popal. We expect premium models to grow even more than last year across regions, she said.

A better performance is also expected from the personal computer market in the coming year. Apple released new Macs earlier this week.

However, Mac sales declined by a third to $7.61 billion, while iPad sales declined 10% to $6.44 billion.

Data from LSEG shows Apple’s wearables segment fell 3% to $9.32 billion, short of estimates of $9.43 billion.

The fourth quarter continued Apple’s trend of declining sales of Macs and iPads.

The company’s services segment, which includes TV+ and recently announced a deal with Lionel Messi, rose 16% to $22.31 billion, versus analyst estimates of $21.35 billion.

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