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Apple Q1: Increased Revenues And Profits ... And Demands For Something New
April 23, 2014 at 4:07 PM (PT)
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APPLE saw its Q1 2014 revenues grow 5% to $45.6 billion, with $10.2 billion in profits, up from $9.5 billion in the same quarter a year ago. While that and a stock buyback pleased WALL STREET and investors, the NY TIMES reports that the growth rate is slowing, prompting the need to release products in new categories such as the much-rumored smartwatch or APPLE television.
“We’re very proud of our quarterly results, especially our strong iPHONE sales and record revenue from services,” APPLE CEO TIM COOK said. “We’re eagerly looking forward to introducing more new products and services that only APPLE could bring to market.” In a call with analysts, he added that the increased buyback was “a signal of the board and management team’s strong confidence in the future of APPLE.”
“We generated $13.5 billion in cash flow from operations and returned almost $21 billion in cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases during the MARCH quarter,” Apple CFO PETER OPPENHEIMER added. “That brings cumulative payments under our capital return program to $66 billion.”
APPLE sold 43.7 million IPHONES (up 17%, better than expected), 16 million iPADS (down 16%, worse than expected) and 4 million MACINTOSH computers (better than expected) in the quarter. COOK said that this was APPLE's strongest non-holiday quarter ever, citing sales of its software and services -- basically, for the iTUNES store -- rose 11% to $4.6 billion. Nearly 800 million people now have iTUNES accounts.
In regards to announcing something new, APPLE observers circle the developers conference APPLE holds in JUNE. The WASHINGTON POST reports that "APPLE is clearly investing in new products," citing COOK telling analysts on its conference call that Apple has acquired 24 firms in the past 18 months," But when it comes to specifics, "We’re not ready yet to pull the string on the curtain," he said. "But we’ve got great things there that I’m excited about."

