CUPERTINO, CALIF. -Hit hard by falling personal computer sales, Apple Computer reported a $247 million loss in its fiscal fourth quarter, compared with a $183 million net profit in the same three months last year.
The fourth-quarter results include a $49 million after-tax gain from the sale of 3.8 million shares of ARM Holdings and 1 million shares of Akamai Technologies.
Apple’s revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter ended Dec. 30 hit $1 billion, matching its lowered expectations, and a 57 percent drop from the $2.3 billion reported in the year-ago three months.
Apple said in December that an industrywide drop in PC sales would lead to a fourth-quarter loss. Apple also warned it would have a revenue shortfall of $600 million.
Apple said it shipped 659,000 Macintosh units during the quarter.
“We took our medicine last quarter and brought our channel inventories back down to earth, to about five and a half weeks,” said CEO Steve Jobs.
“Our cash position remains very strong at over $4 billion, and we are planning a return to sustained profitability beginning this quarter,” said Fred Anderson, Apple’s chief financial officer.
“We now expect revenues for 2001 to be about $6 billion,” said Anderson. His expectation follows Apple’s twice changing its guidance on expected revenue for this year. The company lowered it from an original $7.5 billion last quarter.