US Big Tech Companies Record Historic Earnings... Apple Breaks All-Time Highs

Apple Q2 Revenue Hits $59.6 Billion, Up 11% YoY
Amazon and Facebook Also Report Surprise Earnings
Google Records First Ever Revenue Decline

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Despite the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Apple has created another opportunity for growth through a stock split.

Lowering the price per share is expected to attract more investors, further increasing its already number one market capitalization worldwide.

Apple's stock split was driven by record-breaking second-quarter earnings. Initially, the market expected a slight decline in performance due to the global closure of Apple stores amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but the results surpassed expectations.

On the 30th (local time), Apple announced its second-quarter earnings (U.S. fiscal third quarter, April to June) with sales of $59.69 billion (approximately 71 trillion KRW).

This represents an 11% increase compared to the same period last year. The market had initially forecasted Apple's second-quarter revenue to decline by about 3% to $52.1 billion, but the actual results were significantly higher. Earnings per share also exceeded market expectations of $2.04, reaching $2.58.

CNBC reported, "Apple achieved overwhelming quarterly results with revenue growth across all business segments and regions."

The device segment, including iPads and AirPods, drove Apple's performance. iPad sales rose 31% year-over-year to $6.58 billion, which is 35% higher than market expectations. Sales of other products such as AirPods also grew 16.7% during the same period, reaching $6.45 billion.

However, iPhone sales showed some stagnation. iPhone revenue during this period was $26.42 billion, higher than the market forecast of $23.3 billion, but the year-over-year growth rate was only 1.66%.

Apple CEO Tim Cook commented, "These results achieved during the uncertain times of the COVID-19 pandemic are proof of Apple's relentless innovation."

Amazon and Facebook also announced "surprise earnings" on the same day.

Amazon's second-quarter revenue reached $88.91 billion, a 40% surge compared to the same period last year. Net income also hit a record high of $5.2 billion. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos described it as "an exceptionally unusual quarter."

Facebook, which has been struggling due to an advertising boycott, also posted results exceeding market expectations. Facebook's second-quarter revenue increased 11% year-over-year to $17.7 billion, while the market had forecasted $17.3 billion.

However, among the Big Four tech companies, Google suffered a blow with its first-ever revenue decline. Despite the cloud business segment growing rapidly by over 43%, advertising revenue decreased. Google's parent company Alphabet announced second-quarter revenue of $38.3 billion, a 2% decrease compared to the same period last year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.