Consumer electronics giant Apple (AAPL) managed to beat Wall Street forecasts with its latest earnings even though the company continues to see a slowdown in sales of devices that include the iPhone and MacBook computer.
Apple reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations on the top and bottom lines but revealed that overall sales declined for the fourth consecutive quarter.
Every hardware segment other than the iPhone declined year-over-year in the latest quarter.
Apple reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.46 U.S. versus $1.39 U.S. that had been expected.
Revenue in the quarter came in at $89.5 billion U.S. compared to $89.28 billion U.S. that had been forecast.
Sales of the iPhone during the quarter matched expectations at $43.81 billion U.S. iPhone sales increased 2% from last year.
However, MacBook revenue was $7.61 billion U.S., which missed targets of $8.63 billion U.S. and were down 34% from a year ago.
On the flipside, Apple’s revenue from services such as Apple TV and its finance business came in stronger than expected at $22.31 billion U.S. compared to forecasts of $21.35 billion U.S. Services revenue grew 16% from a year earlier.
Apple’s gross margin for the quarter was 45.2% versus 44.5% that had been expected.
Apple didn’t provide any forward guidance, but executives said on an earnings call that they expect the current year-end quarter’s revenue to “be similar to last year.”
Apple recently announced a series of new, cheaper MacBook computers that run on the company’s internally made M3 microchips.
Apple executives said that the company had more than one billion paid subscriptions at the end of the quarter, which includes apps sold on the App Store that bill on a recurring basis.
Apple’s business in Greater China continues to be challenged. The company faces increased competition within China from domestic electronics firm Huawei.
Greater China sales were flat year-over-year in the latest quarter, said Apple. The company reported $15.08 billion U.S. from the region during the quarter.
Apple currently has $162 billion U.S. of cash on hand. The company declared a dividend of $0.24 U.S. per share and said that it spent $25 billion U.S. on share repurchases and dividends over the last three months.
Apple’s stock has risen 28% over the past 12 months to trade at $177.57 U.S. per share.