Apple Inc (NASDAQ:APPL) posted a record quarterly profit that beat market forecasts as higher prices offset fewer iPhone sales.
The shares nudged up 0.3% to US$168.39 in after-hours' trading.
Profits in the final three months of the year rose to US$20.1bn, up from US$17.8bn the same period a year ago and above analysts’ estimates of US$19bn.
The results included sales of the iPhone X for the first time. The device, which starts at price of US$999, helped lift average selling prices despite a 1% decline in the overall number of iPhones sold in the period to 77.3mln.
Another tech behemoth, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) got a more effusive response to its earnings update.
The numbers blew past analyst estimates, with revenue for the three months at US$50.5bn versus US$59.83bn estimates.
Net income was US$1.9bn, more than double from the same period last year and the highest figure yet for the firm.
This was boosted by a tax benefit of about $789mln under the new US tax laws.
Alphabet Inc's (NASDAQ:GOOGL) stock fell back in Thursday’s after-hours dealing as the Google-owner’s financial results disappointed investors.
The company reported a quarterly profit of US$6.8bn which was US$200mln short of consensus market forecast of US$8bn. On a per-share basis, profit came in at US$9.70 versus expectations for US$9.96.
The shares were off 3.7% at US$1,137.50.
Alphabet's buyback figure of $8,589,869,056 is a perfect number, which means it is the sum of all of its divisors excluding the number itself. Thank you to the nerds at Google for the earnings day math lesson
— Doug MacMillan (@dmac1) February 1, 2018
Small cap focus
A stock that’s flown under the radar a over the past few weeks is Biomerica Inc (NASDAQ:BMRA), which is developing a diagnostic for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).
Not just that, it’s actually developing the InFoods device to allow doctors to identify the specific food at the root of the problem: eggs, milk, wheat, sugar, corn, etc.
It is hoping to receive validation for its intellectual property from the hard-to-please Food & Drug Administration in the form of 510(k) approval.
Snicker not; IBS is a huge market with a lot of quackery associated with it, so the 45mln IBS sufferers will no doubt welcome with open arms something that can help alleviate the discomfort.
Getting the payers to stump up for InFoods will be the acid test! At a share price of US$4.17, Biomerica is worth US$35.5mln.