Apple's earnings beat forecasts, but gross margin guidance disappoints market

Apple Inc. Monday announced its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2013 fiscal year after the market closed, which showed the company's revenue and profit beat expectations, but gross margin guidance for the next quarter fell short of market estimates.

The company posted quarterly revenue of 37.5 billion U.S. dollars, higher than the 36 billion dollars of a year ago.

The company's quarterly net profit reached 7.5 billion dollars, or 8.26 dollars per diluted share, lower than the 8.2 billion dollars, or 8.67 dollars per diluted share a year earlier, but better than the market's expectation of 36.93 billion dollars and 7.96 dollars a share.

However, gross margin guidance for its first quarter of 2014 fiscal year provided by Apple stood between 36.5 percent and 37.5 percent, lower than the forecast of 37.9 percent. Its gross margin was 37 percent in the fourth quarter, compared to 40 percent in the same quarter of last year.

The company sold 33.8 million iPhones, compared to 26.9 million a year earlier. Apple also sold 14.1 million iPads and 4.6 million Macs during the quarter, both more than the same period of last year.

"We're pleased to report a strong finish to an amazing year with record fourth quarter revenue, including sales of almost 34 million iPhones," said Apple's CEO Tim Cook in a statement

He added "we're excited to go into the holidays with our new iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s, iOS 7, the new iPad mini with Retina Display and the incredibly thin and light iPad Air, new MacBook Pros, the radical new Mac Pro."

Apple's shares were closed at 529.88 dollars, but the shares fell about 0.5 percent in after-trading hours and last traded around 527.16 dollars.