Notes of interest from Apple's blockbuster holiday quarter earnings report

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Apple has published its crucial holiday quarter of 2021 results, breaking all of the company’s records for the quarter. Here are some notes of interest from the report, including remarks from Apple CEO Tim Cook and Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri.

Apple’s first calendar quarter of 2022 earnings

Announced on Thursday ahead of Apple’s customary analysts call, Apple’s revenue of $123.9 for the quarter ending December 2021 equates to a year-on-year annual growth/decline from the then-record-setting $111.4B reported in the year-ago quarter. Apple’s earnings per share came in at $2.10 for the quarter, up from $1.68 in the Q1 2021 results.

The quarter’s results follows on from the excellent $83.4 billion in revenue seen in Q4 2020.

The Wall Street consensus for the quarter predicted that Apple would report revenue of $118.3 billion and an EPS of $1.89 for Q1 2022.

The holiday quarter, as usual, benefitted from numerous product launches that take advantage of the holiday sales period. This includes the Apple Watch Series 7, third-generation AirPods, the 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro, new color options for the HomePod mini, and the infamous Apple Polishing Cloth.

Launches from the previous quarter are also great contributors to Apple’s revenue, with Q1 being the first full quarter of availability for them. This includes the headline iPhone 13 generation, as well as the ninth-generation iPad and the sixth-generation iPad mini.

On the quarter, net sales for the iPhone jumped to $71.6 billion, up from $65.6 billion in the year-ago quarter. Mac sales jumped by over $2.2 billion to $10.8 billion, while iPad sales dropped by about $1.2 billion to $7.2 billion because of supply constraints.

Apple’s wearables segment climbed to $14.7 billion from $13.0 billion in the year-ago quarter. Services jumped about $3.8 billion from 2020 to $19.5 billion in the holiday quarter of 2021.

“This quarter’s record results were made possible by our most innovative lineup of products and services ever,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We are gratified to see the response from customers around the world at a time when staying connected has never been more important.”

“The very strong customer response to our recent launch of new products and services drove double-digit growth in revenue and earnings, and helped set an all-time high for our installed base of active devices,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “These record operating results allowed us to return nearly $27 billion to our shareholders during the quarter, as we maintain our target of reaching a net cash neutral position over time.”

AppleInsider interpretations of the results and observations are notated by initials at the end of the statement. This is being updated live, refresh often for the most recent observations.

Highlights from the earnings report, and the following conference call

• Apple stock started the day at $162.45, after a tumultuous week following the $3 trillion valuation landmark
• Apple stock is down about 12.4% on the year.
• Just after the earnings report, Apple stock jumped well over $160, and is at $162.20 as of 4:35 PM ET
• The back-pedaling by analysts has already begun. We’ll be talking more about this next week when the dust settles- MW