Apple Q1 Results Top Wall Street, But Outlook Weak

(RTTNews) - Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) results for the first quarter trumped Wall Street expectations on Thursday. However, the tech giant's iPhone shipments fell short of estimates.

Apple sold 77.32 million iPhones during the holiday season quarter, generating $61.58 billion in revenues. However, analysts were expecting iPhone sales volume to be 80.2 million.

Apple shipped less number of iPhones this quarter than last year, when it sold 78.29 million iPhones. However, revenues from iPhones improved from a year ago, indicating that the company sold more number of its flagship and expensive iPhone X handset than the cheaper ones.

Apple's bottom line continues to be buoyed by iPhone sales, as it contributes about two-thirds of Apple's revenues and a major part of its profit.

"We're thrilled to report the biggest quarter in Apple's history, with broad-based growth that included the highest revenue ever from a new iPhone lineup. iPhone X surpassed our expectations and has been our top-selling iPhone every week since it shipped in November," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO.

Apple reported first-quarter profit of $20.07 billion or $3.89 per share, up from $17.89 billion or $3.36 per share last year. Analysts had expected the company to earn $3.86 per share, according to figures compiled by Thomson Reuters.

Apple said its revenues rose to $88.29 billion from $78.35 billion last year. Analysts had predicted revenues of $87.28 billion.

Looking forward to the second quarter, Apple expects revenue between $60 billion and $62 billion and gross margin between 38.0 and 38.5 percent. Analysts currently project revenues of $65.73 billion.

AAPL closed Thursday's trading at $167.78, up $0.35 or 0.21%, on the Nasdaq. The stock, however, fell $1.53 or 0.91% in the after-hours trade.