Apple (AAPL) earnings Q4 2019

Apple reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations on Wednesday, thanks to strong performance in services and its fast-growing wearables business. Apple stock rose over 1% in after-hours trading.

Here’s how the company did compared with Refinitiv consensus estimates:

• Revenue: $64 billion vs. $62.99 billion estimate.
• EPS: $3.03 vs. $2.84 estimate.
• Q1 revenue guidance: $85.5 billion to $89.5 billion vs. $86.92 billion estimate.
• iPhone revenue: $33.36 billion vs. $32.42 billion estimate.
• Services revenue: $12.51 billion vs. $12.15 billion estimate.

Investors were watching Apple’s guidance for its important holiday quarter, which was in line with analyst estimates. Apple is signaling that it expects growth over last year’s holiday quarter, where it was hit by a major downturn of iPhone sales in China.

Apple CEO Tim Cook highlighted the strong holiday forecast in a statement. “With customers and reviewers raving about the new generation of iPhones, today’s debut of new, noise-cancelling AirPods Pro, the hotly-anticipated arrival of Apple TV+ just two days away, and our best lineup of products and services ever, we’re very optimistic about what the holiday quarter has in store,” Cook said.

It also suggests that Apple has a chance to beat the record $88.3 billion in revenue it posted in the quarter ending December 2017.

iPhone sales were down 9% year-over-year, but the company’s total revenue was up, partially due to 18% growth in Apple’s services business, which includes AppleCare warranties and subscriptions like iCloud. Wearables, including the popular AirPods earbuds, was the company’s fastest-growing segment, with revenues up 54% to $6.52 billion in the quarter. The company recently released a new more expensive version, the AirPods Pro, which could figure into the holiday quarter’s sales.

Most of Apple’s sales growth happened in the Americas, as sales in Europe, Japan and Greater China were all down slightly from last year’s quarter.

Apple’s total cash on hand was $205.9 billion, which was down 2.2% from the previous quarter as the company continues its aggressive buyback strategy. Apple said that it spent $18 billion on share buybacks and $3.5 billion in dividends during the quarter.

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