Apple earnings Q4 2018

Apple reported earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter Thursday that beat Wall Street estimates on both the top and bottom lines. It also locked in a strategy of boosting prices to offset slowing sales — posting an eye-popping average selling price for the iPhone during the key September quarter.

But shares of Apple fell more than 7 percent — falling below its historic $1 trillion market cap — following the release, after the company missed shipment estimates on iPhones, offered light guidance and announced major changes to its reporting structure.

The company is projecting total revenue for the first quarter in the range of $89 billion to $93 billion, extending just slightly below analyst estimates of $93.02 billion.

Here’s how Apple did compared with what Wall Street predicted for the fourth quarter:

• Earnings: $2.91 per share vs. $2.78, forecast by Refinitiv consensus estimates
• Revenue: $62.9 billion vs. $61.57 billion, forecast by Refinitiv consensus estimates
• iPhone sales: 46.89 million vs. 47.5 million, forecast by FactSet and StreetAccount estimates
• iPhone average selling price (ASP): $793 vs. $750.78, forecast by FactSet and StreetAccount estimates

Apple posted iPhone unit sales that were practically flat year-over-year, extending the trend of only modest growth it’s seen in recent quarters. To compensate, Apple has increased the price of the iPhone, boosting its ASP and overall profit.

The company reported an ASP of $793 — a year-over-year increase of 28 percent — and well above analyst projections of $750.78, based on FactSet and StreetAccount estimates.

An ASP that high could indicate strong initial sales for Apple’s highest-priced smartphone models: the iPhone XS, starting at $999, and iPhone XS Max, starting at $1,099. Both went on sale about a week before the end of the September quarter. It also indicates users are settling into higher device prices.

It’s the last quarter that Apple will report such detailed iPhone figures, though.

Apple said on its earnings call that starting next quarter, the company will no longer break out individual sales numbers for the iPhone, iPad and Mac. The three main product lines will be wrapped into one reported revenue figure.

“When you look at our financial performance in recent years, take the last three years for example, the number of units sold during any quarter has not been necessarily representative of the underlying strength of our business,” CFO Luca Maestri said on the call. “If you look at our net income during the last three years, if you look at our stock price in the last three years, there’s no correlation to the units sold in any given period.”