La US quarterly season reached its climax in the after market on Wednesday 27 January with the presentation of the accounts of Apple, Facebook and Tesla. The Cupertino colossus has broken every record, breaking through 100 billion in turnover in three months. Even Facebook's quarterly report did not disappoint with revenues above expectations, while Tesla, despite closing in profit, made analysts turn up their noses, also fearful about delivery targets.
THE APPLE QUARTERLY
Apple ended the fourth quarter of 2020 (the first of fiscal 2021) with profit of $28,76 billion, up 29%, and earnings per share of $1,68. Revenues rallied 21%, touching the record figure of 111,44 billion of dollars.
Sales of new iPhones (+17% to 65,5 billion, a result above expectations), but also revenues from services, which rose by 24% to 15,7 billion, a billion more than expected expected.
From a geographical point of view, revenue recorded in the Greater China region (+60%) increased. Apple CEO Tim Cook said he was "very optimistic" about the future of the group's products.
All the data presented by the Californian company beat the expectations of analysts who expected earnings per share of 1,41 dollars and revenues of 103,1 billion.
THE FACEBOOK QUARTERLY
Earnings jumped 52% to $11,22 billion for Facebook, with earnings per share of $3,88. In the fourth quarter of last year, revenues stood at 28 billion, up 33% on the same period of 2019. 2020 closed with total revenues of 86 billion dollars (+22%) and profits for 29 billion (+58%).
In December, daily active users averaged 1,84 billion (+11% year over year), while monthly active users averaged 2,80 billion, up 12%. The company's employees reached 58.604, an increase of 30% compared to the end of 2019.
“We ended the year on a strong note as people and businesses continued to use our services during these challenging times,” said Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook. “I am excited about our roadmap for 2021: We will create ways new and meaningful ways to build economic opportunity, community, and help people have fun.”
Zuckerberg also announced that Facebook will no longer recommend pages of politicians or political parties to users. “We plan to keep civic and political groups out of the recommendations in the long term and plan to expand this policy globally,” he said on a conference call.
THE TESLA QUARTERLY
In the last quarter of the year, the company led by Elon Musk recorded profits of 270 million dollars from 105 million in the previous year. However, earnings per share stopped at 80 cents, compared to an expectation of 1,01 dollars.
Quarterly sales increased sharply (+46%), reaching 10,74 billion compared to the expected 10,4 billion, while for the whole of 2020 sales rose to 31,5 billion compared to 24,6 billion in 2019. 2020 was for Tesla too the first active year of its history, with profits of 721 million against 862 million losses recorded in 2019.
Going forward, the company estimates average annual growth in vehicle production and deliveries of approximately 50 percent.
