On Tuesday (27th), Apple announced the fourth quarter financial report for fiscal year 2021 (ending 9/25). Revenue increased by 29% annually and reached a new high, but it fell short of market expectations and iPhone sales were also inferior. Chief Executive Tim Cook said that supply chain problems were more than originally thought, and it was estimated that the company would lose 6 billion U.S. dollars, and the impact would be even greater during the peak shopping season at the end of the year. The stock price fell more than 5% after the market.
This is the first time that Apple’s revenue has failed to exceed market expectations since May 2017. It is also the first time that EPS has not beaten market expectations since April 2016.
Supply chain problems have spread to this season
Cook said that supply chain bottlenecks, coupled with the epidemic disrupting the production of Southeast Asian factories, have more than the company’s expected impact on the fourth quarter. Although Apple’s Southeast Asian factory production has “substantially improved” by the end of October, the chip shortage has not yet ended and is still in progress. Affects “most products” of Apple.
He said that mature process chips are still the key to the supply bottleneck, and it is currently uncertain whether the chip shortage will slow down after the end of the shopping season. “Most of our designs use advanced process node components, but all products still use traditional process node components. The shortage may continue into this season (Apple 2022 fiscal year 1st quarter), which is difficult to predict.”
Cook said: “We are doing everything we can to obtain more (chips), do all the things necessary for operations, to ensure that everything goes smoothly.” Apple confirmed for the first time in July that the chip shortage affects the iPhone and iPad production lines.
Cook still expects that this quarter (the first quarter of fiscal year 2022, ending in December) will maintain “strong revenue growth”, Which may mean that the demand for iPhone 13 exceeds Apple’s supply. Currently, Wall Street analysts predict that revenue in the first quarter will increase by 7.4% to $119.7 billion. Apple has not provided financial estimates for many quarters.
Apple (AAPL-US) fell more than 5% after the market, and then the decline has subsided. It still fell by more than 3% before the deadline. Earlier, it closed up 2.50% to US$152.57 per share, and has risen by approximately 15% as of Wednesday’s close this year.
F2021 Q4 (end of 9/25) financial report key figures vs. Refinitiv analyst expectations
- EPS after dilution: $1.24 vs. $1.24
- Net revenue: annual growth of 29% to 83.36 billion US dollars vs. 84.85 billion US dollars (Refinitiv analyst expectations)
- Gross profit margin: 42.2% vs. 42.0%
The performance of each terminal product vs. Refinitiv analyst consensus expectations
- iPhone revenue: 47% annual growth to 38.87 billion US dollars vs. 41.51 billion US dollars
- Mac revenue: annual growth of 1.6% to 9.18 billion US dollars vs. 9.23 billion US dollars
- iPad revenue: 21.4% annual growth to 8.25 billion US dollars vs. 7.23 billion US dollars
- Wearable devices, home equipment and accessories revenue (including AirPods and Apple Watch): an annual increase of 11.5% to 8.79 billion U.S. dollars vs. 9.33 billion U.S. dollars
- Service revenue (including iCloud, Apple Music): an annual increase of 25.6% to 18.28 billion U.S. dollars vs. 17.64 billion U.S. dollars
Sales by region
- Americas: 36.82 billion U.S. dollars, an annual increase of 20%
- Europe: USD 20.79 billion, an annual increase of 23%
- Large Chinese food: 14.56 billion Miwon, annual increase 83%
- Japan: 5.99 billion Miwon, annual increase 19%
- Other Asia: US$5.19 billion, an annual increase of 25%
Apple’s fourth-quarter revenue reached a record high, with an annual increase of 29% to 83.36 billion U.S. dollars, which was not as good as market expectations. Net profit grew by more than 60% to 20.55 billion U.S. dollars, equivalent to a profit per share of 1.24 U.S. dollars, in line with market expectations. Revenue for the full year of 2021 will grow 33% to reach US$366 billion.
Various products have maintained growth, but the revenue of iPhone, Mac and accessories (including AirPods and Apple Watch, etc.) are lower than market expectations.
Services and iPad performed better. Cook said that there are now 745 million subscribers on the Apple platform, an increase of 45 million over the third quarter and an increase of 160 million over the same period last year.
The Greater China region was the highlight of the financial report, and the region’s fourth-quarter revenue surged 83% to US$14.6 billion.
Apple stated that it returned a total of US$24 billion to shareholders in the fourth quarter.
