The net profit of Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) in the 3rd fiscal quarter, ended June 27, 2015, rose 38.9% to $ 10.7 billion, compared with $ 7.7 billion in the same period a year earlier, according to a company press release. The earnings per share jumped 44.5%, from $ 1.28 to $ 1.85.
Apple quarterly revenue rose 32.5%, from $ 37.43 billion to $ 49.6 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, forecasted the Apple profits at $ 1.81 per share, on revenue of $ 49.43 billion. The upper limit of the company's own forecast was $ 48 billion.
Financial results were higher than Wall Street expectations eighth consecutive quarters, but iPhone sales did not justify the optimistic forecasts.
The price of Apple shares fell 6.9% in New York trades after closing the main session on July 21, which means for the most expensive company in the world a loss of almost $ 60 billion market capitalization.
The sales of iPhone, which has the major portion of revenue for Apple, accounted 47.5 million units in the last quarter, which is 35% more than in April-June 2014. Also in China, the iPhone sales increased by 85%. The rise in total exceeds 10% for 5 consecutive quarters, but this time the sales were worse than Wall Street expectations: analysts polled by the Fortune magazine, forecasted the figure at 49.4 million. The average price of iPhone sales rose $ 100, due to the version of iPhone 6 and 6+, said company CFO, Luca Maestri.
Sales of Mac computers grew by 9%, to 4.8 million. However, the iPad tablet remains down: in the third quarter the decline amounted 18% (10.9 million units). The decline has already lasted six quarters due to the competition from cheaper PC tablets.
CEO Tim Cook said that iPhone sales growth are ahead of the smartphone market growth with more than three times, while Mac sales volumes continue to grow despite the overall reduction in the PC market to 12% in April-June.
Total sales of Apple in China jumped 112% to $ 13.23 billion. Apple's revenue in Europe rose 19%, to $ 10.34 billion in the third financial quarter and in North America by 15%, to $ 20.21 billion.
The gross margin rose 0.3 percentage points, to 39.7%.
For the current quarter, Apple expects revenue in the range of $ 49 billion to $ 51 billion versus $ 42 billion in July-September 2014. Gross margin will be 38.5-39.5%, operating expenses - $ 5.85-5.95 billion.