Apple report FY2013 Q4 results

Last night, UK time, Apple released Q4 results

“We’re pleased to report a strong finish to an amazing year with record fourth-quarter revenue, including sales of almost 34 million iPhones,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, in a statement.

Fiscal Highlights: Apple reported $37.5B in revenue, $7.5B in net profit representing $8.26 per share. That marks a year-over-year growth of 4.2 percent in revenue and 4.7 percent decline in EPS, with net profit down 8.6 percent year over year.

Cash: Apple finished the quarter with $146.76 billion cash on hand.

Product Sales: Apple sold 33.8 million iPhones, 14.1 million iPads and 4.6 million Macs in the quarter, producing record Q4 revenue. Analysts had estimated 33.4 million iPhones, 14.3 million iPads and 4.3 million Macs for the quarter. iPhone sales grew 26 percent to hit another record number. iPad sales were relatively flat. Apple sold a total of 71 million iPads in fiscal 2013. Apple sold just 3.5 million iPods in the quarter.

This handy chart gives a good visual overview of Apple’s performance.

Apple Beats

Apple beat analyst expectations across the board for revenue, posting record Q4 numbers.

According to Fortune’s collated estimates, Wall St analysts had projected $37.14 billion in revenue with EPS of $8.16. Estimates put year-over-year revenue growth at 3 percent and earnings growth at -6 percent. WSJ estimates had placed EPS at $7.94, which would give Apple a win in both categories as well.

Apple’s own guidance projected revenue at between $34 billion and $37 billion, with a gross margin of between 36 percent and 37 percent. Apple’s estimates have become increasingly accurate over the past few quarters, ever since it changed the way that it gave guidance. Previously, it had a reputation for severely under-estimating future quarters and it’s taken a bit of time for analysts to adjust to its new, more conservative outlook. Its projections for revenue in Q1 2014 are between $55 billion and $58 billion with gross margin of between 36.5 percent and 37.5 percent.

Apple’s gross profits fell to 37 percent, the seventh quarter in a row for such a decline. Much of that can be attributed to lower margins on devices like newer Retina iPads and lower-priced iPhones. If it hits the higher end of its Q1 ’14 estimates, it could reverse that for the first time in a while, but the lower end would mark another decline.

iPod sales were down 35 percent year over year, Macs were down 7 percent over the same period and compare favourably to the general PC market where sales are down close to 11%.. iTunes and software revenues were up 22 percent and accessories were up 5 percent.

Even with only a couple of weeks of the latest iPhone 5S and 5C sales, iPhones still accounted for 52 percent of Apple’s overall sales. The full impact of the two new models won’t be felt in full until Q1 2014.

The same can be said for the iPad, whose numbers are depressed due to no new model being launched in the period. We’ll see impact from the iPad Air, Retina iPad mini and reduced cost iPad mini in Q1 2014.

The average selling price of iPad was $439 up from $436 in Q2 and iPhone ASP was $577 in Q4.