Analysts had been looking for 90 cents a share after eliminating exceptional items from Apple Computer Inc so the estimated 80 cents a share the company turned in after the market closed on Thursday did not go down at all well, and the shares slumped $4.125 to $43. Chief financial officer Joseph Graziano said supply constraints that persisted during the quarter depressed total unit growth rate by up to five percentage points – and worse, the company may not be able to meet demand until sometime into calendar 1996. Total unit shipments grew by about 20% in the quarter. Shipments of Power Macintosh computers more than doubled compared with the same quarter a year ago, taking the total number of Power Macintosh machines and upgrades shipped to date to more than 2m. Turnover, up 20% to $2,570m, was in line with analysts’ expectations. Gross margins in the quarter stood at 28.3% of net sales, up from 26.7% in the year-ago quarter and 26.2% in the second quarter this year – attributed primarily to the introduction and sale of new higher-margin products, including new Power Macintoshes, as well as the impact of changes in exchange rates. International business accounted for 49% of the total, up from 47% in the year-ago period. Operating costs, excluding the restructuring adjustment, for the recent quarter represented 22.2% of net sales, up a smidgen from 21.8% a year earlier, due to higher marketing and research and developement costs related mostly to new product introductions and increased marketing activities, the company noted. Analysts were busy downgrading their forecasts for the fourth quarter and for fiscal 1996 on Friday.
