Consumer electronics giant Apple (AAPL) late Tuesday beat Wall Street's targets for its fiscal second quarter. The Apple earnings news sent its stock surging in extended trading.
XThe Cupertino, Calif.-based company earned $2.46 a share on sales of $58 billion in the March quarter. Analysts expected Apple earnings of $2.37 a share on sales of $57.55 billion, according to Zacks Investment Research.
On a year-over-year basis, Apple earnings fell 10% while sales dropped 5%. It was the company's second straight quarter of declining revenue and its first earnings drop in 10 quarters.
Apple stock rose 5% in after-hours trading on the stock market today. During the regular session, it dropped 1.9% to 200.67.
For the June quarter, Apple expects to generate sales of $53.5 billion, based on the midpoint of its guidance. It did not give a target for earnings per share.
Wall Street predicted Apple earnings of $2.07 a share on sales of $52.37 billion in the fiscal third quarter, Zacks said. In the year-earlier period, it earned $2.34 a share on sales of $53.27 billion.
Apple Raises Quarterly Dividend, Share Buybacks
Apple raised its quarterly cash dividend 5% to 77 cents a share. Plus, it boosted its share repurchase plan by $75 billion.
"Our March-quarter results show the continued strength of our installed base of over 1.4 billion active devices," Chief Executive Tim Cook said in a news release. The company set an record for services revenue and saw strong momentum in wearables and accessories.
"We are as excited as ever about our pipeline of innovative hardware, software and services," Cook said. "We're looking forward to sharing more with developers and customers at Apple's 30th annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June."
Declining iPhone Sales
Apple faces declining iPhone sales amid smartphone market saturation, an extended replacement cycle and heightened competition in China from domestic rivals like Huawei.
Meanwhile, the company seeks growth from services and wearable devices such as Apple Watch and AirPods. But those haven't been enough to offset declining handset sales.
Wall Street predicts Apple earnings per share and sales each will decline 4% in fiscal 2019, which ends Sept. 28.
Follow Patrick Seitz on Twitter at @IBD_PSeitz for more stories on consumer technology, software and semiconductor companies.
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