Today: Cupertino-based Apple posted earnings results that soared well above analysts’ expectations, and in after-hours trading, Apple jumped 3 percent.
The lead: Apple beats expectations, bolstered by iPhone
Cupertino-based Apple posted earnings results that soared well above analysts’ expectations.
In after-hours trading, Apple jumped 2 percent.
Apple earned $11.12 billion on sales of $51.5 billion, for its fourth fiscal quarter that ended in September. Compared to the year-ago quarter, profits jumped 31.3 percent and sales rose 22.3 percent.
Per-share profits for Apple totaled $1.96, and Wall Street had expected the iMac and iPhone maker to earn $1.88 and produce revenue of $51.11 billion.
Apple sold about 48 million iPhones during the quarter. The company launched the 6S and 6S Plus models in September.
Strong sales of the iPhone in China bolstered much of Apple’s revenue surge, the company said. The company didn’t disclose sales activity for its new watch device.
Apple projected record sales for its fiscal first quarter, which coincides with the holiday shopping season. First quarter sales will range from $75.5 billion to $77.5 billion, which would top last year’s first quarter, a record at that time. Analysts had projected first-quarter sales of $77.1 billion.
SV150 market report: Twitter offers sour sales view
San Francisco-based Twitter plunged 11 percent in after-hours trading after issuing a prediction that its third-quarter revenue would fail to meet Wall Street’s projections. Revenue will range from $695 million to $710 million, compared with predictions of $741.6 million. Twitter’s user base grew 11 percent to 320 million, but analysts were expected users to reach 324 million.
Mountain View-based Google is offering podcasts on Google Play Music, a move to challenge Apple.
Menlo Park-based Facebook will launch “2G Tuesdays”, a super-slow Internet service designed to give its employees the opportunity to use the social network’s app at the low connection rates that are common in emerging markets. Facebook wants its workers to have empathy with people in nation’s that have sluggish Internet access.
Silicon Valley Big Five: In regular-session trading, Gilead Sciences up 2.1 percent, Google owner Alphabet up 0.2 percent, Facebook down 0.07 percent, Oracle down 0.08 percent, Apple down 0.6 percent.
Silicon Valley tech stocks
Up: The five biggest winners by percent change were Cepheid, Integrated Device Technology, Monolithic Power Systems, Aemetis, Fairchild Semiconductor.
Down: The five biggest losers by percent change were A10 Networks, Extreme Networks, Pandora Media, Yelp, Lending Club.
The SV150 index of Silicon Valley’s biggest companies: Down 3.41, or 0.21 percent, to 1,654.26.
The tech-focused Nasdaq composite index: Down 4.56, or 0.09 percent, to 5,030.15.
The blue chip Dow Jones industrial average: Down 41.62, or 0.24 percent, to 17,581.43.
And the broad-based Standard & Poor’s 500 index: Down 5.29, or 0.26 percent, to 2,065.89.
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