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Apple (AAPL) Tops Q2 EPS by 17c; $200B Capital Return Plan

April 27, 2015 4:30 PM EDT

(Updated - April 27, 2015 4:35 PM EDT)

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) reported Q2 EPS of $2.33, $0.17 better than the analyst estimate of $2.16. Revenue for the quarter came in at $58 billion versus the consensus estimate of $56.06 billion.

Gross margin was 40.8 percent compared to 39.3 percent in the year-ago quarter.

International sales accounted for 69 percent of the quarter's revenue.

The company sold 61.17 million iPhone units in Q2, well above the consensus of 54.9 million. The company sold 12.62 million iPad units and 4.56 million Macs.

"We are thrilled by the continued strength of iPhone, Mac and the App Store, which drove our best March quarter results ever," said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. "We’re seeing a higher rate of people switching to iPhone than we've experienced in previous cycles, and we’re off to an exciting start to the June quarter with the launch of Apple Watch."

"The tremendous customer demand for our products and services in the March quarter drove revenue growth of 27 percent and EPS growth of 40 percent," said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. "Cash flow from operations was also outstanding at $19.1 billion."

Apple sees Q3 revenue of $46-$48 billion and gross margin between 38.5 percent and 39.5 percent. The consensus called for Q3 revenue of $47.06 billion.

Apple also announced that its Board of Directors has authorized an increase of more than 50 percent to the Company’s program to return capital to shareholders. Under the expanded program, Apple plans to utilize a cumulative total of $200 billion of cash by the end of March 2017.

As part of the revised program, the Board has increased its share repurchase authorization to $140 billion from the $90 billion level announced last year. In addition, the Company expects to continue to net-share-settle vesting restricted stock units.

The Board has also approved an increase of 11 percent to the Company’s quarterly dividend, and has declared a dividend of $.52 per share, payable on May 14, 2015 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 11, 2015.

From the inception of its capital return program in August 2012 through March 2015, Apple has returned over $112 billion to shareholders, including $80 billion in share repurchases.

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Apple (AAPL) click here.



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