Apple on Wednesday announced the financial results for its fiscal 2019 fourth quarter ended September 28, 2019. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $64 billion, an increase of 2% over the year-ago quarter, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $3.03, up 4%. International sales accounted for 60% of the quarter’s revenue.
Services revenue hit an all-time high of $12.5 Billion in the quarter. Gross margin for the quarter was 38.0%, compared to 38.3% in the year-ago quarter. Apple declared an upcoming dividend payment of $0.77 per share, payable November 14 to shareholders of record as of November 11.
“We concluded a groundbreaking fiscal 2019 with our highest Q4 revenue ever, fueled by accelerating growth from Services, Wearables and iPad,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “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.”
“Our strong business performance drove record Q4 EPS of $3.03 and record Q4 operating cash flow of $19.9 billion,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “We also returned over $21 billion to shareholders, including almost $18 billion in share repurchases and $3.5 billion in dividends and equivalents, as we continue on our path to reaching a net cash neutral position over time.”
Apple is providing the following guidance for its fiscal 2020 first quarter:
- Revenue between $85.5 billion and $89.5 billion
- Gross margin between 37.5% and 38.5%
- Operating expenses between $9.6 billion and $9.8 billion
- Other income/(expense) of $200 million
- Tax rate of approximately 16.5%
