Apple Earnings Tops Street, But Revenues Miss

(RTTNews) - Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) earnings for the second quarter trumped Wall Street estimates on Tuesday, however, the tech giant's quarterly revenues fell short of expectations due to lower-than-expected iPhone shipments.

Apple sold 50.76 million iPhone units during quarter, generating $33.25 billion in revenues, down from 51.19 million units last year. Wall Street were expecting iPhone sales to be about 52 million.

Apple's bottom line continues to be buoyed by iPhone sales, as it contributes about two-thirds of Apple's revenues and a major part of its profit.

Apple continues to see a slow down in the sales of iPhones largely due to a saturated smartphone market, sluggish demand in China -- Apple's second-biggest market after the U.S, and less frequent upgradation of iPhones by customers.

Meanwhile, the year 2017 marks the iPhone's 10th anniversary and the Cupertino, California-based smartphone maker is expected to unveil three new models to commemorate-- two handsets with improvements and a third redesigned "premium" iPhone.

However, the shipping of the "Premium iPhone" is expected to be delayed by an extra one or two months due to supply constraints.

"We are proud to report a strong March quarter, with revenue growth accelerating from the December quarter and continued robust demand for iPhone 7 Plus," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO.

Apple reported second-quarter profit of $11.03 billion or $2.10 per share compared with $10.52 billion or $1.90 per share last year. Analysts had expected the company to earn $2.02 per share, according to figures compiled by Thomson Reuters.

Apple said its revenues rose to $52.90 billion from last year's $50.56 billion. Analysts had predicted revenues of $52.97 billion.

Looking forward to the third quarter, Apple expects revenue between $43.5 billion and $45.5 billion. Analysts currently project revenues of $45.57 billion.

The company also raised its dividend by 10.5 percent and boosted its share buyback authorization by $35 billion to $210 billion.

AAPL closed Tuesday's trading at $147.51, up $0.93 or 0.63% on the Nasdaq. The stock, however, slipped $2.59 or 1.76% in the after-hours trade.