Apple on Monday reported record earnings for the company’s first fiscal quarter of 2014, the three-month period ending December 31st.
During this critically important holiday quarter, Apple posted earnings of $14.50 a share on sales of $57.59 billion. iPhone and iPad sales for the December quarter broke all previous records for Apple, which sold 51 million iPhones and another 26 million iPads.
Wall Street, however, was expecting Apple to post closer to $58 billion in revenues on sales of at least 56 million iPhones and 24.5 million iPads.
Shortly after the earnings report was released, shares of Apple fell precipitously in after-hours trading.
“We are really happy with our record iPhone and iPad sales, the strong performance of our Mac products and the continued growth of iTunes, Software and Services,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said. “We love having the most satisfied, loyal and engaged customers, and are continuing to invest heavily in our future to make their experiences with our products and services even better.”
Apple also provided the following guidance for its fiscal 2014 second quarter:
- Revenue between $42 billion and $44 billion
- Gross margin between 37 percent and 38 percent
- Operating expenses between $4.3 billion and $4.4 billion
- Other income/(expense) of $200 million
- Tax rate of 26.2 percent
