What happened
Shares of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) rose more than 3% on Friday after the technology titan reported third-quarter profits Thursday that surpassed Wall Street's expectations.
So what
Apple's net sales grew by 2% to a whopping $83 billion in its fiscal 2022 third quarter, which ended June 25. The gains came even as inflation forced many consumers to pare back their discretionary spending and supply chain disruptions resulted in shortages of key components.
Apple's iPhone business proved particularly resilient. Sales of the popular smartphone increased by 3% to $40.7 billion. During a conference call with analysts, CEO Tim Cook said the iPhone continues to please Apple loyalists while also enticing more people to ditch their Android-powered devices.
"The latest survey of U.S. consumers from 451 Research indicates iPhone customer satisfaction of 98%," Cook said. "We also attracted a record number of switchers for the June quarter, with strong double-digit year-over-year growth."
Still, supply chain constraints weighed on Apple's profits. Mac sales fell 10% to $7.4 billion, while iPad sales slipped 2% to $7.2 billion.
Yet Apple's services revenue expanded by 12% to $19.6 billion, as the number of paid subscriptions on its platform grew to over 860 million.
All told, Apple's earnings per share declined by 8% to $1.20. That was above Wall Street's estimates, which had called for per-share profits of $1.16.
Now what
Apple did not offer specific guidance for its fourth-quarter sales and profits, but Cook's comments during an interview with CNBC gave investors cause for optimism. "In terms of an outlook in the aggregate, we expect revenue to accelerate in the September quarter despite seeing some pockets of softness," Cook said.
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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Joe Tenebruso has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), and Apple. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long March 2023 $120 calls on Apple and short March 2023 $130 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
