NEW YORK
Apple on Monday
reported a sharp rise in its quarterly profit, lifted by robust sales of
its iPhones and a jump in revenue from China.
The
California tech giant said profit rose 33 percent from a year ago to
$13.6 billion, lifted by sales of 61 million iPhones in the first three
months of the year.
Revenue increased 27 percent from the same period a year ago to $58.01 billion, Apple said.
A
major contributor was the expansion of iPhone sales in China. Revenue
for "greater China" leapt 71 percent to $16.8 billion in the quarter,
allowing the region to overtake Europe as Apple's second-largest market.
"We
are thrilled by the continued strength of iPhone, Mac and the App
Store, which drove our best March quarter results ever," said chief
executive Tim Cook.
BRIGHT FUTURE
People queue outside a store on the official launch day for the new Apple Watch, on April 24, 2015 in Paris. PHOTO | AFP
"We're
seeing a higher rate of people switching to iPhone than we've
experienced in previous cycles, and we're off to an exciting start to
the June quarter with the launch of Apple Watch."
The results for the second fiscal quarter exclude the new Apple smartwatch, which began deliveries last week in nine countries.
Apple
offered no figures for Apple Watch sales, but Cook said during a
conference call that the response has been "overwhelmingly positive."
"It's been really great to see the reaction of customers since their watches arrived Friday," he said.
Apple
said separately it was adding $50 billion to its share buyback program
and boosting its dividend, in an apparent concession to shareholders
fearing the company is stockpiling too much cash.
Apple
said its board has increased its share repurchase authorization to $140
billion from the $90 billion level announced last year. The buybacks
increase value for shareholders by reducing the number of outstanding
shares.
The board also approved an 11-percent increase in quarterly dividends to 52 cents per share.
The moves will only modestly impact Apple's cash reserves, which rose to over $193 billion in the past quarter.
"We
believe Apple has a bright future ahead, and the unprecedented size of
our capital return program reflects that strong confidence," said Cook.
A man consumes an energy drink while waiting in
line for the release of the Apple Watch to customers at the Maxfield in
LA store on April 24, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. PHOTO | AFP
"While
most of our program will focus on buying back shares, we know that the
dividend is very important to many of our investors, so we're raising it
for the third time in less than three years."
TRANSFORMATIONAL CYCLE
Apple,
already the largest publicly traded company by market value, saw its
shares rise in after-market trade by 1.5 percent to $134.61 after the
better-than-expected results, pushing its capitalization to more than
$770 billion.
Brian White, analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald, said the results were positive and suggest Apple is still growing at a healthy pace.
"Given
the strength of this iPhone cycle, expanded cash distribution, and
entry into the first new product category in five years with Apple
Watch, we believe Apple remains early in this transformational cycle,"
he said in a note to clients.
Apple's
results come after hugely successful launch last year of its
large-screen iPhones, helping it regain market share lost to rivals like
Samsung and others using the Google Android platform.
Apple's report showed a 40 percent jump in iPhone sales compared with the same period a year ago.
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