Apple has announced its third quarter financial results and they're a wee bit surprising. Though we've grown used to Apple posting record breaking financial results, the numbers actually represent an earnings miss. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Apple, a company that usually blows analysts predictions out of the water, has only fallen short of analyst expectations twice in ten years. Still, it's not all bad news: While Apple may have fallen short of expectations, the company did see positive growth for the third quarter of fiscal year 2012 (ended June 30).
The Cupertino-based company reported quarterly revenue of $35 billion, and a quarterly net profit of $8.8 billion (or $9.32 per diluted share). These numbers compare to $28.6 billion in revenue and a net profit of $7.3 billion ($7.79 per diluted share) for the same period in 2011. Gross margin for the quarter was 42.8 percent compare to last year's 41.7 percent. Apple's own expectations for Q3 were $34 billion in revenue and diluted earnings per share of about $8.68. For Q2 of 2012, Apple posted quarterly revenue of $39.2 billion and quarterly net profit of $11.6 billion, or $12.30 per diluted share.
Apple's board also declared a cash dividend of $2.65 per share. Payable on August 16, the dividend is available to stockholders of record at the close of business on August 13, 2012.
"We're continuing to invest in the growth of our business and are pleased to be declaring a dividend of $2.65 per share today," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. "Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter, we expect revenue of about $34 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $7.65."
A whopping 62 percent of the quarter's revenue stemmed from international sales. This is down 2 percent from last quarter and equal to the same quarter in 2011.
