Apple Misses Consensus Revenue Estimate; Stock Down 10% in After Hours Trading (AAPL 4Q05 Earnings Results)

Apple (ticker: AAPL) saw its stock fall 10% in late trading after reporting Q4 earnings results that missed consensus revenue estimates but beat EPS estimates (excluding tax gain) by $0.01. Key stats from the quarter and guidance:

Q4 Results
(all comparisons are year over year unless stated otherwise)

• Revenue rose 56.5% to $3.678 billion below consensus estimate of $3.74 billion.
• Gross margin was 28.1% vs 27.0%
• R&D expenses rose 20.5% to $147.0 million.
• SG&A expenses rose 24.0% to $470.0 million.
• Total operating expenses rose 21.9% to $617.0 million.
• Operating income rose 226.6% to $418.0 million.
• Operating margin was 11.4% vs 5.4%.
• Net income rose 305.7% to $430.0 million.
• Net margin was 11.7% vs 4.5%.
• Diluted EPS of $0.50 vs $0.13.
• Diluted EPS of $0.38 (excluding $0.12 gain from tax benefits) above consensus estimate of $0.37.

Balance Sheet (as of September 24, 2005)

• Cash and equivalents of $3.5 billion.
• Short-term investments of $4.8 billion.

Q1 2006 Guidance

• Revenue of $4.7 billion vs consensus estimate of $4.53 billion.
• GAAP gross margin of 27.3% (non-GAAP of 27.4%).
• GAAP operating expenses of $760 million (non-GAAP of $720 million).
• Provision for income taxes of $188 million (non-GAAP of $202 million).
• GAAP earnings per diluted share of $0.46 (non-GAAP of $0.49). Consensus estimate of $0.48.

Full press release here.