Apple Q4 Earnings Below Target
The Company indicated that it expects to report revenues between $1.85 and $1.90 billion and earnings per diluted share, excluding investment gains, between $.30 and $.33 when actual results are announced on October 18, 2000.
"Three factors contributed to our revenues and earnings coming in below expectations,' said Fred Anderson, Apple's CFO. 'First, we experienced lower than expected September sales due to a business slowdown in all geographies. Second, our Education sales, which normally peak during September, were lower than expected. And third, our Power Mac G4 Cube is off to a slower than expected start, resulting in revenues below expectations. We are currently re-evaluating our plans going forward, and will provide lower growth targets for next quarter and the next fiscal year when we announce our final results on October 18.'
"We've clearly hit a speedbump, which will result in our earning, before investment gains, approximately $110 million rather than the expected $165 million for the September quarter,' said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. 'Though this slowdown is disappointing, we have so many wonderful new products and programs in the pipeline--including Mac OS X early next year--and remain positive about our future."
Apple's stock ended down some 40% in after hours trading according to this Wired article. Some analysts blame the earnings shortfall on the Cube and claim it is not selling at all which is not exactly what Fred Anderson stated. Perhaps the lack of the ATI Radeon graphics card significantly slowed sales. October will tell since the Radeon is now available via the Apple Store. [Chris Adamson and Dana Baggett]
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