Apple Inc. (AAPL) Sells a Record Number of iPhones, Crushes Estimates

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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) released its earnings report for the three months ended June 30 2013 this afternoon after the market closed on Wall Street. The company showed earnings of $7.47 per share for the three months period on revenue totaling $35.3 billion. On today’s market stock in the smartphone maker trended downward, finishing the day at $418.99 per share. The company also revealed that it had sold 31.2 million iPhones in the quarter, compared with 26 million a year ago.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) Sells a Record Number of iPhones, Crushes Estimates

Analysts following the world’s biggest tech company were looking for earnings per share of $7.28 for the June quarter, which Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) records as its third fiscal quarter. Revenue for the three month period was expected to come in at $34.9 billion. In the same three months of 2012 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) earned $9.32 per share on revenue of $35 billion.

Apple going nowhere

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock has been doing poorly since last September when the company’s latest smart phone, the iPhone 5, was released. The firm’s shares briefly hit above $700 but have fallen by almost 40% since the high. Stock in the company has shown little relatively little ability to move upward since January, languishing between $390 and $480.

Shareholders in the company are constantly looking for movements that could drive the company’s stock price higher once again, but even a beat on the two earnings reports the company delivered so far failed to have any real effect on the company’s shares. Analysts and investors alike seem unclear about where the company is going.

A new horizon

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is a different company than it was a year and a half ago. The company now offers a dividend, it’s taken on debt, and its guidance figures are more realistic. It appears to have exited the high growth phase based on ever expanding iPhone sales and entered a stable period. There is little the company can do in the smartphone or tablet market to break its current mold.

The only thing that can change the course that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is on is the creation of a new product category. It’s been three years since the release of the iPad and that market is maturing. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) needs new products in order to grow again, but the company hasn’t offered any real clues about its pipeline.

There has been speculation, of course. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will, according to the internet rumor mill, release a television and a smart watch this year. If the more obscure rumors are listened to, a whole host of products are on the way. The market won’t move until Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) announces something, however.

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