Apple Posts Rare Earnings Miss; Outlook Disappoints

Fresh off its much-anticipated iPad mini reveal, Apple reported quarterly earnings that missed Wall Street’s forecasts on Thursday and an outlook that fell shy of estimates.

Apple shares (AAPL) ended the regular trading day down 1.2 percent and were halted after-hours. Shares are expected to resume trading at 4:50pm ET. 

The company’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings excluding items rose to $8.67 per share from $7.05 a share in the year-earlier period.

Revenue increased 27 percent to $35.97 billion from $28.27 billion a year ago.

Analysts had expected the company to report earnings excluding items of $8.75 a share on $35.8 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.

For the fiscal first quarter, Apple said it expects earnings of $11.75 a share on $52 billion in revenue. Analysts currently expect earnings of $15.43 per share and $55 billion in revenue.

Shortly before the end of Apple’s fourth quarter, the company launched the iPhone 5, the latest version of its popular smartphone. Since the iPhone 5’s release in stores, the company’s shares have slipped more than 13 percent from their $705 all-time high.

The release comes two days after the company introduced the iPad mini and an update of its popular full-sized iPad. It said it has sold more than 100 million iPads since the devices debuted in April 2010.

In the fourth quarter, Apple said it sold 27 million iPhones, 14 million iPads and 5 million Macs.

SOURCE: Yahoo.