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Last Update: 24-Apr-13 07:39 ET
Apple shares lower by 1% following beat on earnings and capital return program
Apple (AAPL $402.12 -4.13) reported fourth quarter earnings of $10.09 per share, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ consensus of $10.00, while revenues rose 11.3% year/year to $43.6 billion versus he $42.4 billion consensus. Q2 gross margins of 37.5% vs Street est of 38.5% and 37.5-38.5% guidance Products: 37.4 million iPhones sold in Q2 vs Street est of ~35 million; 19.5 million iPads sold in Q2 vs Street est of ~18 million; sold just under 4 million Macs in Q2 vs Street est of ~4 million. Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $33.5-35.5 billion vs. $38.44 billion Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; co sees Q3 gross margin between 36-37% vs. ests of ~38.8%. The company announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a significant increase to the co's program to return capital to shareholders. The co expects to utilize a total of $100 billion of cash under the expanded program by the end of calendar 2015. This represents a $55 billion increase to the program announced last year and translates to an average rate of $30 billion per year from the time of the first dividend payment in August 2012 through December 2015. As part of this program, the Board has increased its share repurchase authorization to $60 billion from the $10 billion level announced last year. This is the largest single share repurchase authorization in history and is expected to be executed by the end of calendar 2015. Apple also expects to utilize about $1 billion annually to net-share-settle vesting restricted stock units. Additionally, the Board has approved a 15% increase in the Company's quarterly dividend and today has declared a dividend of $3.05 per common share, payable on May 16, 2013 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 13, 2013. Apple is among the largest dividend payers in the world, with annual payments of about $11 billion.
