Dubai: Apple's failure to meet earnings estimates in the fourth quarter hurt shares in early trading yesterday.
Shares slid by more than five per cent to dip below $400 (Dh1,468) after the world's most highly valued tech firm held its first earnings call under new CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday.
The stock tumbled after Apple failed to meet quarterly revenue estimates pegged at $29.6 billion. Apple sold 17.07 million iPhones in the fourth quarter, far below the 20 million expected, resulting in a 39 per cent increase in revenues of $28.2 billion.
In a conference call with reporters from Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California, Cook said that fewer people bought iPhones in the back end of the fourth quarter in anticipation of the rollout of the newer iPhone4S.
The company posted a net profit of $6.2 billion resulting in $7.05 per diluted share up from the same period last year when Apple posted fourth-quarter revenue of $20.34 billion with a net profit of $4.3 billion for $4.64 per diluted share.
Cook said a historic surge in demand for the new iPhone 4S witnessed four million units sold in the first three days, paving the way for an expected record first quarter of 2012.
