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Apple Inc. brushed off the COVID-19 crisis to report record results Thursday, and the company said it plans to split its stock in an attempt to make it “more accessible to a broader base of investors.”
Apple shares AAPL, +1.21% gained 5.2% in after-hours trading, pushing shares higher than $400, a level the stock has never eclipsed in regular trading.
The company posted fiscal third-quarter net income of $11.25 billion, or $2.58 a share, up from $10.04 billion, or $2.18 a share, in the year-prior quarter. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had been anticipating $2.05 a share.
Apple’s revenue for the quarter rose to $59.7 billion from $53.81 billion, while the FactSet consensus was for $52.24 billion. The company generated $26.42 billion in revenue from its iPhone segment, compared with $26.99 billion a year ago and the $22.2 billion that analysts had been expecting. This is the first quarter to include sales of the iPhone SE, Apple’s lower-cost smartphone that launched in August. International sales accounted for 60% of the company’s revenue in the period.
The company declined to provide a financial forecast for the current quarter in its release but said that its board of directors has approved a four-for-one stock split. Apple shareholders of record as of the close of business on Aug. 24. Trading begins on a split-adjusted basis on Aug. 31.
Revenue for the iPad business climbed to $6.58 billion from $5.02 billion, while revenue from Macs came in at $7.08 billion, compared with $5.82 billion a year earlier. Analysts had been modeling $4.85 billion in iPad revenue and $6.03 billion in Mac revenue.
Apple’s fast-growing services segment saw revenue increase to $13.16 billion from $11.45 billion in the quarter, above estimates for $13.1 billion. Revenue from wearables, accessories, and home products grew to $6.45 billion from $5.5 billion and came in ahead of estimates, which called for $5.98 billion.
The company was forced to temporarily shut its stores outside of China in March due to the pandemic and while it began gradually reopening some of its locations toward the end of May, it then moved to re-close some of them in states where the crisis was worsening.
The report comes a day after Chief Executive Tim Cook faced lawmakers at a House Judiciary Committee hearing focused on antitrust issues. Representatives grilled Cook on Apple’s App Store practices, including the fees it charges developers to sell digital services through iPhone apps and whether Apple has pulled rival apps that it deems competitive to its own native offerings.
Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, +0.60%, Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, +0.97% GOOG, +0.62%, and Facebook Inc. FB, +0.51%, whose top executives were also questioned at the hearing, joined Apple in reporting June-quarter earnings Thursday afternoon.
Apple shares have added 30% over the past three months as the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.85%, of which Apple is a component, has gained 8%.
