Apple predicts record holiday sales, but that's not enough to save inventory



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Apple Inc. on Thursday revealed a blockbuster in quarterly quarter and predicts a record business figure for the holiday season.

This, however, was not enough for investors.

The smartphone maker said Thursday it increased its revenue by 20% in its fourth fiscal quarter, thanks in part to the dynamism of the latest iPhone. The iPhone business has seen the strongest growth in number of years, with an increase of 29%, following the release of iPhone XS and XS Max.

These figures were certainly an anomaly: part of Apple's work

AAPL, + 1.54%

The September quarter of this year included two new expensive phones, while the company had not yet deployed the expensive iPhone X at the end of the quarter of the previous year. This creates a fairly easy comparison, but also contributed to a relatively cautious growth projection for the current quarter, which resulted in shares down 6.5% after trading.

Our summary of live blogs highlights all that Apple has discussed in its call for results.

Apple's forecast for the month of December is based on a turnover of between 89 and 93 billion dollars. These are staggering figures that would surpass Apple's quarterly record of $ 88.5 billion last year in the vacation quarter. But this also represents sales growth of less than 5% compared to last year's performance, when the $ 1,000 iPhone X contributed to juice sales.

Given the company's array of expensive new phones and its proven success, which encourages users to pay for it, some are wondering why the company was not more optimistic with its forecasts.

Financial Director Luca Maestri gave some reasons for the company's earnings appeal. One is the timing of the introduction of the products, as the first users may have bought the expensive new iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max before the start of the December period, while Apple fans from last year would have had no other choice wanted the new iPhone X, and then the flagship device of Apple.

"Obviously, this has resulted in a [average selling price] growth in the fourth quarter of 2018 and obviously a more difficult comparison for the first quarter, "Maestri said at the call.

Do not miss: Opinion: When things get tough, Apple hides its numbers

He also cited the headwinds of foreign currencies, with most major currencies depreciating against the dollar, as well as "macroeconomic uncertainties" in emerging markets.

CEO, Tim Cook, said during the call-and-answer part that emerging markets have referred to countries like Brazil, Turkey, India and Russia, where currencies have weakened. Before the release of the report, China was the elephant: investors worried about tariffs, spending trends and changing gaming landscape, but Mr. Cook made it clear that he "would not put China in this category".

He went on to say that all the issues in China appeared to be national in nature and not the result of trade war tensions with the United States.

The final justification for Apple's forecast was what Maestri curiously described as "uncertainty about the balance between supply and demand". The company did not say whether it was worried about supply or demand issues, but comments to the call suggested that Apple.

Maestri said that although product ramps "are going pretty well," the company is deploying "an unprecedented number of new products." Given the ever-changing environment in emerging markets, and Cook's remark about the fact that Apple still has very little data "on sales of the iPhone XR after less than one week of availability, there are moving parts at both ends.

Read: Critics love Apple's new iPhone XS, but do not necessarily recommend buying one.

Presentations of the new MacBook Air, Mac Mini, and iPad Pro products were little discussed during the conference call. The company announced these devices Tuesday and their price is significantly higher than that of their predecessors. The December quarter of this year could be at a disadvantage because it will not benefit from the day of the launch of Apple's most expensive iPhone, but benefits from expensive new devices elsewhere in the company's lineup.

Apple's shares have risen 33% in the last 12 months, at the close on Thursday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average

DJIA, + 1.06%

, of which Apple is a component, rose 8%.

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