Apple Stock Drops Nearly 9% Despite Record Breaking Q1 Numbers

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) today released results for its fiscal 2014 first quarter (ended December 28th 2013), and while some of the numbers were record breakers for the tech giant, they still fell short of analysts' expectations. This, accompanied by a disappointing Q2 forecast, caused the stock to drop nearly 9% during after hours trading. According to OppTrends, Apple shares were trading for around $502 at 5:43 P.M. EST today.

Apple reported a record quarterly revenue of $57.6 billion and quarterly net profit of $13.1 billion, or $14.50 per diluted share. These are up from revenue of $54.5 billion and net profit of $13.1 billion, or $13.81 per diluted share, for Q1 2012. Gross margin dipped slightly to 37.9, down from 38.6 a year ago. iPhone sales

broke a quarterly record with over 51 million handsets sold, up from 47.8 million a year ago, though this still missed analysts' estimates of 56 to 57 million sales. iPad sales, on the other hand, also broke a record, reaching 26 million and surpassing expectations of 24-25 million sales. Mac sales were better than expected as well, with 4.8 million units sold.

Regarding the sales, Apple CEO Tim Cook expressed the general feeling at company headquarters: "We are really happy with our record iPhone and iPad sales, the strong performance of our Mac products and the continued growth of iTunes, Software and Services... We love having the most satisfied, loyal and engaged customers, and are continuing to invest heavily in our future to make their experiences with our products and services even better.” Investors, however, were not happy with the lower-than-expected iPhone sales, and were further dismayed with the company's guidance for its fiscal 2014 second quarter:

The problem here is with the expected revenue of $42 to $44 billion. This is much lower than what Wall Street expected, given the recent China Mobile deal.