Saturday, December 27, 2014

The Ever-Changing World Of Apple

On Saturday, December 27th, Apple’s first quarter of FY2015 drew to a close. While management has guided to revenue of between $63.5 billion and $66.5 billion in the period, the current Wall Street revenue consensus estimate of $66.46 billion is already pushing against the upper threshold of management’s revenue guidance range. 

Apple’s Global Expansion
Apple manages its business on a geographic basis. The graph below illustrates the regional revenue mix for the fiscal year ended in late September. 

Although in aggregate revenue rose a fairly modest 6.95% in the fiscal year, revenue growth by region varied widely with Greater China and Japan again delivering the fastest rates of growth. The graph below illustrates Apple’s revenue growth rates by region for the fiscal year.
Both Greater China and Japan delivered double-digit revenue growth rates in the period while Europe delivered revenue growth at a rate greater than the aggregate rate of growth for the company as a whole. The Americas region, Apple's largest revenue region, realized revenue growth of 3.95% in the fiscal year with negative growth in the Rest of Asia Pacific region.

Changes In Regional Revenue Reporting
Concurrent with the start of the December quarter (FQ1 2015), Apple is eliminating Retail as an independent revenue region. Results for the retail stores will be incorporated in the revenue totals for the geographic region in which the stores are located. For the year, Apple reported 437 retail stores of which 40% were located outside the United States. On a national basis with retail store revenue geographically assigned, the United States represented 37.7% of revenue and China represented 16.8% of revenue in FY2014. Japan may become a third national region to contribute 10% or more of Apple’s reported revenue.