Apple reported its first quarterly sales drop since 2003 last week, and its stock has been taking a beating ever since.
Apple CEO Tim Cook appeared on Jim Cramer's show on CNBC to ease investor fears on Monday.
"We just had an incredible quarter by absolute standards, $50 billion plus in revenues, $10 billion in profits. To put that in perspective, the $10 billion is more than any other company makes," Cook said.
"No one else is earning anywhere near this. Last year, we earned $53 billion in profits. And I think the number two company was $24 [billion]," Cook said.
Cook was confident that the iPhone 7 and other upcoming products would continue appealing to consumers, despite a recent decline in iPhone sales:
"We’ve got great innovation in the pipelines, new iPhones" Cook said. "We’re going to give you things you can’t live without that you don’t know you need today. That’s always been the objective of Apple."
Aside from slowing iPhone sales, Apple investors are most worried about Apple's relationship with China, which seems to have soured recently. Notable activist investor Carl Icahn cited "what is happening in China" as the reason why he sold off his position earlier this year.
"I think what you see in China in general is a smartphone industry isn’t growing, there’s movement between different suppliers of smartphone, but in the areas we play, we’re doing quite well," Cook said."
"If you look at it on a two-year basis, Apple grew 70% in China. It's hard-pressed to say those aren't good results," Cook said.
Cook addressed Chinese regulators' recent decision to remove Apple's online book and movie stores as well.
"In terms of the books and movies, what you’re talking about we did offer books and movies, currently we’re offline, what I can tell you there is that we’re working with the relevant government agencies and businesses, and we’re confident and optimistic we’ll be back online," Cook said.
Cook also called India, a market Apple has its eyes on, as having "huge market potential."
While Apple missed Wall Street analysts' estimates last quarter, it hit its own guidance, a point Cook underscored.
"We did what we said we would do. We said the revenues would be between $50 and $53, we came in at $50.6. We said margins would be 39% to 39.5%; we came in at 39.4%," Cook said.
It's not the first time that Cook has used Cramer's show, Mad Money, to address investors directly. Last August, Cook sent an email to Cramer midway through a quarter when it looked as if China anxiety was hurting Apple's stock price.
The email seemed to have an effect, turning a day in which Apple was down 6% to one in which it ended up 2%.
We'll see if Cook's appearance on Monday has the same effect. In after hours trading on Monday, the stock was relatively unchanged.
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