With 114.5 billion in turnover, Apple posted its best quarter: so why is the American giant plummeting on the stock market?

Apple has good and bad news to announce, which one would you prefer to start with? The apple brand chose to start with the best Monday, by publishing the results of the fourth quarter (between July and September) of its delayed financial year, better than expectations. It even set a double record in terms of turnover, with its best quarter, at $114.5 billion - up 12% year-on-year - and an overall annual financial year at $478.8 billion, up 15% compared to the previous year.

Thanks to a gross margin of 47.9%, at the top of its forecast range, Apple achieved net profit of $30.7 billion for the quarter, up 12%. Sales, which had already increased by 16% in the spring then by 12% this summer, are notably driven by the iPhone, which accounts for more than half of its sales (53%), ahead of services (26%) and Macs (8%).

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And this for a quarter which only includes nine days of sales of the iPhone 18 Pro, launched at the end of September, and none of its iPhone Duo sold since October 23 at $2,000, its first foldable smartphone that director John Ternus presents as “the most transformative iPhone since the original”.

A slowdown in growth anticipated for the end-of-year holidays

With such finances, does the group see life in pink like the color of its iPhones? Not quite, because the main announcement expected by investors was elsewhere. They were especially worried about the brand's forecasts for the end of the year, shared during a conference following the press release on its results. And this time, the news was much less good.

Apple anticipates a slowdown in its growth for the holiday season, between 7 and 10%. Its gross margin should be reduced, falling to between 45% and 46%, compared to 48.2% a year ago. The market reaction was not long in coming, with the group's shares immediately losing more than 3% after the close of Wall Street.

Shortage of memory chips and less efficient services

To remedy the expected drop in its gross margin, Apple has already started to introduce “unavoidable price increases”, as its former CEO Tim Cook warned in June. The prices of the new iPhone 18 Pro jumped by $100, after those of Macs, iPads and other accessories which increased between $30 and $300.

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Machine-translated from French