AAPL: Apple Stock Soars 6% on Record $110 Billion Share Buyback, Milder Sales Drop

iPhone maker is rushing to patch up fragmented confidence after a series of blows that have bruised shares to a 7% decline this year.

• Apple stock AAPL rose 6% in off-market trading after logging a 2% gain in the regular session Thursday. The iPhone maker posted revenue that indicated another quarter of slowing growth. But not as slow as analysts had expected. The tech highflyer reported revenue of $90.8 billion in the three months to March, down 4% from the year-ago quarter but above the $90.3 billion consensus views.
• Sales of the cash-cow product — iPhone — amounted to $46 billion, down 10% from the $51.3 billion picked up in the same quarter last year. All that was good news for investors who had been pricing in a worse scenario given Apple’s struggles in China, troubling headwinds at home, and a falling share price. Apple stock is down about 7% this year while other Big Tech peers, such as Meta META are breathing in the rarefied air of record highs.
• In a bet to fuel confidence in the company, Apple announced a monster $110 billion share buyback — the biggest ever. It also raised its quarterly dividend by 4% to 25 cents from 24 cents. Mac sales arrived at a surprisingly high 4% increase to $7.5 billion, while iPad revenue dropped 16.7% to $5.6 billion and slid below estimates of $6.9 billion. Wearables, home, and accessories — including the new Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset — picked up $7.9 billion, a 9.6% drop.
• Also, if you’re a Big Tech CEO, you might consider throwing in “AI” in your forward-looking guidance (if you haven’t already.) — it’s effective! “We continue to feel very bullish about our opportunity in generative AI,” Apple boss Tim Cook said on the conference call. “We are making significant investments and we’re looking forward to sharing some very exciting things with our customers soon.”