Apple's Retail Operations To Break Even In Q4, Profit In 2002

by , 6:00 PM EDT, September 6th, 2001

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple is expecting its new retail operations to break even in the December quarter, Apple's fiscal 1st quarter of 2002. The company also said retail operations would post a profit in fiscal 2002. Apple CFO Fred Anderson made the comments at a technology conference hosted by Solomon Smith Barney.

Reuters is also reporting that Mr. Anderson refused to offer specific further guidance on Apple's current quarter, but offered an overt hint:

Anderson said, however, that the lack of a profit warning could be considered good news. "If you don't hear from us, that's obviously good news," he said.

There you have it. Back to the WSJ, Mr. Anderson made favorable comments for Apple going forward. From the Wall Street Journal:

According to Mr. Anderson, Apple is "well-positioned" to renew growth when the industry comes out of the downturn. The financial chief said innovative products, its MAC OS X operating system, as well as its retail stores will fuel future growth. He added that Apple also intends to beef up its reseller channels and increase its points of presence in Asia and Japan by 25% this year and Europe by 15%.

There is additional information in both the Reuters and the WSJ articles, and both are good reads.

The Mac Observer Spin:

This is good news. It is also suggests that Apple is still well on top of their game. We look forward to the overly-secret company revealing retail numbers, and we would like to see some stats on the makeup of the customers currently visiting its Apple Stores. We should add that turning a profit, or even breaking even, this quickly after launching a new chain of retail stores is no small-accomplishment.

We will also point out that Apple has been hitting expectations pretty consistently since the miserable 4th Quarter (the September quarter) of 2000, when Apple announced an unexpected loss. The company was the first to recognize the upcoming PC slump, and was among the first to put its house in order.