In contrast to the ‘full steam ahead’ message from Amazon and Jeff Bezos, the Apple line from its quarterly results is for shareholders to be rewarded with $US50 billion more for its share buyback and more dividends.
No worries about battening down the hatches and retaining cash – the tech giant is charging ahead flinging cash hither and thither.
The message saw Apple shares rise just less than 2% in aftermarket trading Thursday.
Sales rose, but as widely forecast, profits slipped slightly but sales grew amid the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.
The company posted quarterly net income of $US11.25 billion, down slightly from $US11.56 billion, in the March quarter of 2019. But that was higher than market estimates,
Revenue grew slightly to $US58.31 billion from $US58.02 billion, while analysts were expecting $US54.78 billion.
“Despite COVID-19’s unprecedented global impact, we’re proud to report that Apple grew for the quarter, driven by an all-time record in Services and a quarterly record for Wearables,” Chief Executive Tim Cook said in Thursday’s announcement.
The company saw March-quarter iPhone sales drop to $US28.96 billion from $US31.05 billion a year prior as the COVID-19 outbreak saw its stores outside China shut starting March 13.
Apple continued to see fast growth from its services business, which generated $US13.35 billion in revenue, up from $US11.45 billion a year earlier.
Apple announced that it would add $US50 billion to its share-buyback program and boost its quarterly dividend by 6% to 82 cents a share. The company boosted its buyback by $US75 billion a year ago and $US100 billion the year before that while upping its dividend 5%.
The company says it wants to trim its net-cash balance, (around $US100 billion before the report). That cash is not doing anything in these days of record low-interest rates around the globe.
