Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported third-quarter earnings Thursday that exceeded expectations and revenue that grew year-over-year and came in ahead of the Street forecast. The outperformance was aided by strong showings across product categories. Apple shares, which have risen nearly in-line with the broader market this year, climbed 0.96% to $220.96 in after-hours trading, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Apple's Key Q3 Numbers: Cupertino, California-based Apple reported low-single-digit percentage year-over-year revenue growth for the third quarter, an improvement from the 4.31% decline in the second quarter and in line with the company's guidance issued on the second-quarter earnings call.
Here are the comparisons versus the consensus and prior-year periods:
| Q3'24 Actuals | Q3'24 Consensus* | Q3'23 | Q2'24 | |
| Revenue | $85.78B | $84.53B | $81.80B | $90.75B |
| Non-GAAP EPS | $1.40 | $1.35 | $1.26 | $1.53 |
| Gross margin | 46.26% | N/A | 44.26% | 46.58% |
Commenting on the results, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, said, "Today Apple is reporting a new June quarter revenue record of $85.8 billion, up 5% from a year ago."
"During the quarter, we were excited to announce incredible updates to our software platforms at our Worldwide Developers Conference, including Apple Intelligence, a breakthrough personal intelligence system that puts powerful, private generative AI models at the core of iPhone, iPad, and Mac."
On its second-quarter earnings call, Apple flagged gross margin of 45.5%-46.5%, and a forex headwind of about 2.5 percentage points.
Services revenue reached a new all-time record, but was a tad below the forecast. Sales of the flagship product, the iPhone; the iPad; and the Wearable, Home & Accessories all came in above expectations. Mac revenue also came in shy of estimates.
Apple CFO Luca Maestri said: "We are also very pleased that our installed base of active devices reached a new all-time high in all geographic segments, thanks to very high levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty."
The company generated nearly $29 billion in operating cash flow.
Apple Shareholder Returns: Apple's board declared a quarterly cash dividend of 25 cents per share, payable on Aug. 15 to shareholders of record as of Aug. 12.
Look Ahead: The consensus estimates for Apple's September quarter and full year are as follows:
| Q4 Consensus | Change (Y-o-Y) | FY24 Consensus | Y-o-Y Change | |
| EPS | $1.56 | +6.85% | $6.62 | +8.00% |
| Revenue | $93.39B | +4.4% | $387.96B | +1.22% |
More details regarding the company's progress with artificial intelligence technology could be forthcoming when the tech giant hosts its earnings call at 5 p.m. EDT.
Apple Stock: For the year-to-date period, Apple stock has added 13.71%, comparable with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust's (NYSE:SPY) 14.96% gain and Invesco QQQ Trust's (NASDAQ:QQQ) 12.57% advance.
The stock ended Thursday's session down 1.68% at $218.36.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo courtesy of Apple.