Apple gibt Ergebnisse für das dritte Quartal bekannt

CUPERTINO, Kalifornien - 21. Juli 2009 - Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) hat heute die Ergebnisse des dritten Quartals im Geschäftsjahr 2009, das am 27. Juni 2009 endete, bekannt gegeben. Im zurückliegenden Quartal erzielte Apple einen Umsatz von 8,34 Milliarden US-Dollar sowie einen Netto-Gewinn von 1,23 Milliarden US-Dollar bzw. 1,35 US-Dollar pro Aktie. Im Vorjahresquartal wurde ein Umsatz von 7,46 Milliarden US-Dollar bzw. ein Netto-Gewinn von 1,07 Milliarden US-Dollar oder 1,19 US-Dollar pro Aktie erzielt. Die Bruttogewinnspanne lag bei 36,3 Prozent, verglichen zu 34,8 Prozent im Vorjahresquartal. Der Nicht-US-Anteil am Umsatz betrug in diesem Quartal 44 Prozent.

In Übereinstimmung mit den nach GAAP geforderten Bilanzierungsrichtlinien verzeichnet das Unternehmen Umsätze sowie Umsatzaufwendungen für iPhone und Apple TV über deren wirtschaftliche Nutzungsdauer hinaus. Um diese Auswirkungen zu eliminieren, werden die nach GAAP bewerteten Umsätze und Produktkosten angepasst; somit betragen die entsprechenden, nicht GAAP-konformen Werte* für das Quartal 9,74 Milliarden US-Dollar an "bereinigtem Umsatz" und 1,94 Milliarden US-Dollar an "bereinigtem Netto-Gewinn."

Apple hat im dritten Quartal des Fiskaljahres 2009 2.600.000 Macintosh-Computer ausgeliefert, das entspricht vier Prozent mehr Absatz zum vergleichbaren Vorjahresquartal. 10.200.000 iPods sind im zurückliegenden Quartal über den Ladentisch gegangen, das sind sieben Prozent weniger verglichen zu Q3/2008. Im zurückliegenden Quartal sind 5.200.000 iPhones verkauft worden, 626 Prozent mehr als im Vergleich zum Vorjahresquartal.

"Wir stellen unsere innovativsten Produkte aller Zeiten her und unsere Kunden reagieren darauf," sagt Steve Jobs, CEO von Apple. "Wir sind über 5,2 Millionen verkaufte iPhones im zurückliegenden Quartal begeistert und unsere Kunden haben innerhalb des ersten Jahres mehr als 1,5 Milliarden Anwendungen in unserem App Store herunter geladen."

"Wir sind extrem erfreut den besten Umsatz und Gewinn in einem Nicht-Weihnachtsquartal berichten zu können sowie einen Cash-Flow aus operativem Geschäft von 2,3 Milliarden US-Dollar im Quartal erzielt zu haben," ergänzt Peter Oppenheimer, Finanzchef von Apple. "Für das vierte Geschäftsquartal 2009 erwarten wir einen Umsatz zwischen 8,7 Milliarden und 8,9 Milliarden US-Dollar bzw. zwischen 1,18 und 1,23 US-Dollar pro verwässerter Aktie."

*Non-GAAP Financial Measures

During fiscal 2007, the Company began selling iPhone and Apple TV. Because the Company may provide unspecified features and additional software products to iPhone and Apple TV customers in the future free of charge, in accordance with GAAP the Company recognizes revenue and cost of goods sold for these products on a straight-line basis over their economic lives, with any loss recognized at the time of sale. Currently, the economic lives of these products are estimated to be 24 months. This accounting treatment, referred to as subscription accounting, results in the deferral of almost all of the revenue and cost of goods sold during the quarter in which the products are sold to the customer. Other costs related to these products, including costs for engineering, sales, marketing and warranty, are expensed as incurred. Further, the costs to develop any future unspecified features and additional software products that may eventually be provided to customers also are expensed as incurred. In contrast, the Company generally recognizes revenue and cost of goods sold for its other products, such as Macs and iPods, at the time of sale, as the Company does not provide future unspecified features or additional software products to those customers free of charge.

In July 2008, the Company began selling iPhone 3G, the second-generation iPhone, and at that time significantly expanded distribution by establishing carrier relationships in over 70 countries. Unit sales of iPhone 3G have been significantly greater than sales of the first-generation iPhone. During the first quarter of iPhone 3G availability ended September 27, 2008, 6.9 million units were sold, exceeding the 6.1 million first-generation iPhone units sold in the prior five quarters combined.

In June 2009, the Company began selling iPhone 3GS, the third-generation iPhone. Unit sales of iPhones continued to be significant in the quarter ended June 27, 2009, with 5.2 million iPhones sold. As a result, the amount of revenue and product cost related to those iPhone sales that the Company deferred for recognition in future periods under subscription accounting was substantial. While the GAAP results provide significant insight into the Company’s operations and financial position, management continues to supplement its analysis of the business using financial measures that look at the total sales, related product costs and resulting income for iPhones and Apple TVs sold to customers during the period. The presentation at the end of this press release includes the following non-GAAP measures: “Adjusted Sales,” “Adjusted Cost of Sales,” “Adjusted Gross Margin,” “Adjusted Operating Margin,” “Adjusted Net Income” and “Adjusted Diluted Earnings per Share.” These financial measures are not consistent with GAAP because they do not reflect the deferral of revenue and product costs for recognition in later periods. The above-mentioned non-GAAP measures are generated by adjusting the related GAAP measures solely to reverse the effect of subscription accounting. The Company uses these financial measures, along with other measures discussed below, to provide additional insight into current operating and business trends not readily apparent from the GAAP results.

Management uses Adjusted Sales to evaluate the Company’s growth rate, revenue mix and performance relative to competitors. Given the impact of iPhone unit sales during the quarter ended June 27, 2009, Adjusted Sales provides a meaningful measurement of the Company’s growth by reflecting amounts generally due to Apple at the time of sale related to products sold within the period. Further, eliminating the effects of deferred revenue (current sales deferred to future periods and prior sales being recognized currently) provides more transparency into the Company’s underlying sales trends. Management uses the non-GAAP measures of “Adjusted Cost of Sales,” “Adjusted Gross Margin” and “Adjusted Operating Margin” to measure the Company’s operating performance based on current period iPhone and Apple TV sales and to facilitate ongoing operating decisions. Additionally, because the Company recognizes engineering, sales, and marketing expenses as incurred, including expenses related to iPhone and Apple TV, management uses Adjusted Sales to evaluate returns on those costs, to manage year-over-year operating expense growth, and to budget future expenses. Furthermore, because they are considered meaningful indicators of current business performance, the non-GAAP measures “Adjusted Sales” and “Adjusted Operating Margin” are metrics that factor into the determination of management compensation beginning in fiscal year 2009. Finally, management uses the non-GAAP measures of “Adjusted Net Income” and “Adjusted Diluted Earnings per Share” to measure the Company’s operating performance based on current period iPhone and Apple TV sales, to facilitate ongoing operating decisions, and compare performance relative to competitors.

Management believes that these non-GAAP financial measures, when taken together with the corresponding consolidated GAAP measures and related segment information, provide incremental insight into the underlying factors and trends affecting both the Company’s performance and its cash generating potential. Management believes these non-GAAP measures increase the transparency of the Company’s current results and enable investors to more fully understand trends in its current and future performance.

As noted previously, these non-GAAP financial measures are not consistent with GAAP because they do not reflect the deferral of revenue and product costs for recognition in later periods. These non-GAAP financial measures do not adjust for the costs associated with the Company’s intention to provide unspecified new features and software to purchasers of iPhone and Apple TV products. These costs are expensed as incurred under GAAP’s subscription accounting model, and are not adjusted in these non-GAAP financial measures. As such, these non-GAAP financial measures are not intended to reflect in a given period all of the costs of sales made in that period. Rather, the non-GAAP financial measures presented below are intended for the limited purpose of presenting performance measures that include the total sales, related product costs, and resulting income for iPhones and Apple TVs in the period those products are sold to customers.

Management believes investors will benefit from greater transparency in referring to these non-GAAP financial measures when assessing the Company’s operating results, as well as when forecasting and analyzing future periods. However, management recognizes that:

Further, these non-GAAP financial measures may be unique to the Company, as they may be different from non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies. As such, this presentation of non-GAAP financial measures may not enhance the comparability of the Company’s results to the results of other companies.

A reconciliation of each non-GAAP financial measure to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure or measures appears at the end of this press release.

This press release contains forward-looking statements including without limitation those about the Company’s estimated revenue and earnings per share. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ. Risks and uncertainties include without limitation the effect of competitive and economic factors, and the Company’s reaction to those factors, on consumer and business buying decisions with respect to the Company’s products; potential litigation from the matters investigated by the special committee of the board of directors and the restatement of the Company’s consolidated financial statements; continued competitive pressures in the marketplace; the ability of the Company to deliver to the marketplace and stimulate customer demand for new programs, products, and technological innovations on a timely basis; the effect that product transitions, changes in product pricing or mix, and/or increases in component costs could have on the Company’s gross margin; the inventory risk associated with the Company’s need to order or commit to order product components in advance of customer orders; the continued availability on acceptable terms, or at all, of certain components and services essential to the Company’s business currently obtained by the Company from sole or limited sources; the effect that the Company’s dependency on manufacturing and logistics services provided by third parties may have on the quality, quantity or cost of products manufactured or services rendered; the Company’s reliance on the availability of third-party digital content and applications; the potential impact of a finding that the Company has infringed on the intellectual property rights of others; the effect that product and service quality problems could have on the Company’s sales and operating profits; the Company’s reliance on sole service providers for iPhone in certain countries; war, terrorism, public health issues, and other circumstances that could disrupt supply, delivery, or demand of products; the continued service and availability of key executives and employees; unfavorable results of other legal proceedings; and the Company’s dependency on the performance of distributors and other resellers of the Company’s products. More information on potential factors that could affect the Company’s financial results is included from time to time in the Company’s public reports filed with the SEC, including the Company’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 27, 2008, its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 27, 2008, its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 28, 2009, and its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 27, 2009 to be filed with the SEC. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements or information, which speak as of their respective dates.

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