Apple’s Quarterly Report Offers No Surprises

Apple released its quarterly reports on Tuesday, affirming most analysts’ projections on the financial status of the Cupertino-based tech giant at this point in the year.

For the first three months of 2017, the company recorded $52.9 billion in revenues, which fell just short of the estimated $53 billion predicted by analysts. Still, the windfall topped the company’s own projection of at least $51.5 billion for the same period.

The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus actually performed well in terms of sales, bucking the negative projection set by market analysts who believed that consumers will forego purchasing to wait for the release of the iPhone 8.

In an interview with CNBC, Apple CEO Tim Cook mentioned that there was a “delay in purchasing behavior” concerning both iPhone 7 models as a result of “rumors and reports about future products.”  

“However, if you look at iPhone outside of greater China, iPhone units grew very nicely,” Cook said. “We had more upgraders in the first half than ever before.”

Apple has been secretive about the release of the iPhone 8. In fact, the company even refrained from naming its new mobile phone model. Nevertheless, it didn’t stop people from speculating that the new product is going to be released in September 2017, and that it would feature ultra-thin bezels, a bigger OLED display, and TouchID.

Meanwhile, Apple’s quarterly report also brought good news to shareholders and investors as they can expect a return of capital to the tune of $50 billion, which was already approved for release by the company’s Board of Directors. According to the plan, Apple would have released $300 billion under the expanded program of returned capital by the end of March 2019.

Luca Maestri, Apple’s chief financial officer, said they have already returned $10 billion to their investors for this quarter, on top of the $50 billion that will be distributed soon. Since the capital return program was implemented five years ago, the company already gave back more than $211 billion to investors and shareholders.

In addition, Apple’s Board of Directors has given the go signal for the proposed 10.5% increase in dividends. According to a company press statement, the common stock rose to $0.63 per share for this quarter. Dividends will be paid by May 18 of this year to shareholders who are listed on record as of May 15.

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