Apple and Amazon, two of the most powerful and richest companies in the world, have released tax data below expectations for the most recent quarter, which ended last September. The results were described as disappointing by several analysts and were mainly due to the difficulties in finding the components to produce the devices, the crisis in raw materials due to the pandemic and an increase in labor costs in some countries. Furthermore, both companies have not made very optimistic forecasts for the end of the year, a period in which they usually produce large revenues thanks to Christmas purchases.
Between July and September, Apple produced $ 83.4 billion in revenues, 29 percent more than in the same period in 2020, but lower than the $ 84.85 billion forecast by analysts. The company has above all increased sales in the computer and online services sector, an area in which it has made numerous investments in recent years to diversify the offer between streaming music, TV series, films, cloud and fitness.
Amazon, on the other hand, produced revenues of 110.8 billion dollars, 15 percent more than in the same quarter last year, but still below expectations and with significant growth in expenses. The company spent nearly $ 4 billion more on warehouses, $ 3.3 billion on various technology costs, and $ 2.6 billion on marketing.
In presenting the fiscal results, the managers of both companies alluded to a difficult Christmas season, both in terms of product availability and the ability to distribute them.
Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, said his company's sales would have been about $ 6 billion higher in the absence of supplier difficulties due to a lack of microchips and other components. Cook explained that the problems concern “a large part of our products”, also due to a very high demand for the latest iPhone, iPad and Mac models presented in late summer and early autumn.
Apple could sell fewer devices than expected if there were long waiting lists due to low component availability. Cook anticipated that this condition will negatively affect sales and more dramatically than the quarter ended September.
Meanwhile, Amazon is preparing for a busier than usual Christmas shopping season. The company produces enormous revenues in this period, but also has to deal with much higher management costs, mainly due to the temporary hiring of more staff for the preparation of shipments, logistics and deliveries. Labor costs are rising, especially in the US, and Amazon will therefore have to spend several billion dollars in the coming weeks.
Delays in refueling at its sorting centers and lack of goods will mean that couriers managed directly by Amazon will not always be able to leave with full trucks, making the delivery system less efficient and more expensive. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who recently succeeded the company founder Jeff Bezos, said the company will bear more costs to maintain the quality of its services: “For us it will be expensive in the short term, but it is the right choice of priorities for our customers and partners “.
Amazon expects to produce between $ 130 and $ 140 billion in revenues in the quarter ending December, a forecast below what most analysts previously made. Corporate operating income (the company's pre-tax and finance result) could be close to zero after several years in which it had been multi-billion dollars. In July, Amazon had already provided less optimistic forecasts, although at the time it was still hoping for a recovery in supplies and an improvement in the commodity crisis, which then only partially occurred.
Both Amazon and Apple hope to stem the problems related to physical products with the sales of digital services, for which there are practically no difficulties related to distribution (even if there are still some in terms of expansion of data centers, which still use computers and microchips ). Amazon in particular continues to generate high revenues thanks to the numerous cloud services of its AWS division: in the last quarter they were equal to 16.1 billion dollars, 39 percent more than in the same period of the previous year.
