Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported earnings reported that included stellar iPhone sales and fiscal Q4 earnings that topped Wall Street estimates. Apple's record-breaking quarter saw sales of 39 million iPhones, up sharply from the year-ago period's 33.8 million, offsetting slightly weaker results for its iPad. The New York Times said experts believe the results showed Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) got about 70% of its profits from the iPhone, which could make the company vulnerable if competition from Samsung and others gets tougher.Apple could also be benefiting in trading from the widely covered launch Monday of its Apple Pay service in conjunction with banks and retailers. PC World said that since Apple Pay lets customers swipe their mobile device at the point of sale, it lets them send a payment token rather than exchange a credit card number. The result, according to PC World, means hacked payment terminals cannot steal customers' card numbers. The tech giant reported Q4 earnings of $1.42 per share, better than the analyst consensus of $1.31 per share on Capital IQ. Sales were $42.1 billion, ahead of expectations of $39.8 billion. For Q1, Apple said it expects revenue of $63.5 to $66.5 billion, vs. expectations of $63.4 billion. Gross margin is seen between 37.5% and 38.5%.The company posted iPhone revenue of $23.67 billion, up 20% sequentially and 21% year-over-year. iPad revenue was $5.31 billion, down 10% sequentially and 14% year-over-year. Mac revenue was $6.625 billion, up 20% sequentially and 18% year-over-year. iPod revenue was $410 million, down 7% sequentially and 28% year-over-year BofA/Merrill Lynch analyst Wamsi Mohan reiterated a Buy rating and $120 price target on Apple, and said the company's product mix should drive more upside in revenues and gross margins. Analysts at Mizuho Securities raised their target on AAPL to $115 from $110 a share. The firm maintained its buy rating on the stock.E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD) and Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE:HON) said they were disappointed with the European Commission, which issued a statement of objection concerning a new refrigerant for car air conditioning systems that was developed through a joint venture by the two companies. The European Commission said the joint venture may be anti-competitive, as it may have blocked other companies from developing and producing the new coolant, known as R1234yf. Honeywell rejected the preliminary charges filed by the European Commission, saying "The allegations outlined in the statement of objections are baseless and conflict with the EU's own laws that encourage collaboration on development."E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD) said it "complied at all times with applicable laws in its development and commercialization of HFO-1234yf," adding that it would defend its case vigorously "against the Commission's allegations and preliminary conclusions." DuPont also said that its joint venture with Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE:HON) "developed HFO-1234yf jointly in response to the European Union's Mobile Air Conditioning (MAC) Directive," and that without their joint development, "HFO-1234yf would not have been successfully developed and brought to market, and there would today be no commercially available solution satisfying the MAC Directive's criteria." The new R1234yf coolant is already used in approximately 2 million cars around the world, Reuters noted.
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