The Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) share price will be a hot topic today after the biggest company in the world released its results for the second quarter. Not only were they impressive… they were astonishing – beating analysts' expectations by significant margins.
Hence, I pose the question, could Apple be the first US$3 trillion company. I'll run through the results and let you decide for yourself. At the time of writing, the Apple share price is 2.36% higher at US$136.73 in after-hours trade.
Huge demand across all products
When it comes to Apple's products, it isn't a one-trick pony. Anyone who has an iPhone will understand how easy it is to fall into the Apple ecosystem. Before you know it, the Apple Watch, Airpods, iPad, and Macbook are all expediting money out of the back pocket. This means, when one breaks, it's almost impossible to reach beyond the Apple fortress for an alternative.
This, in addition to refreshes in the product line-up, has helped the company achieve double-digit growth in all of its product categories. iPhone sales jumped 65.5% from last year. While computers and iPad sales lunged 70.1% and 79% higher respectively.
The truly mind-blowing aspect of this is we're not talking millions of dollars of sales. No, this is tens of billions of dollars' worth of sales. Apple's total revenue increased 53.7% year over year (YoY) to US$89.58 billion. This was more than 15% higher than analysts' forecasts of US$77.36 billion.
Apple growing 54% YoY at $90B scale. My brain: pic.twitter.com/sgznAJZgJ8
Aaron Levie (@levie) April 28, 2021
Furthermore, Apple recorded earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.40. This amounts to US$23.63 billion in net income, compared to US$11.25 billion for the same time last year.
Apple share buyback of $90 billion
The company also announced its plan to buy back US$90 billion worth of Apple shares. This is despite the Apple share price being near record highs.
In a bullish sign, this buyback program is significantly larger than the US$50 billion carried out last year, and the US$75 billion in 2019.
In addition to the buyback, Apple also declared a cash dividend of US22 cents per share. Shareholders will be pleased, with this being 7% higher than last year.
Foolish takeaway
It is hard to believe a company doing nearly US$300 billion a year in revenue is still growing at over 50% YoY. Growth at scale is one of the most difficult challenges to overcome in business. Yet, Apple continues to deliver and expand upon its product offerings.
The Apple share price has delivered a return of 85% in the past year. The company will need to navigate silicone shortages and continue to invent quality products to break the $3 trillion barrier.
