Apple CEO Tim Cook says company's earnings report below estimates, hiring is not strong

Tim Cook, the company's CEO, weighed in on the company reporting financial results below estimates and its hiring in an interview Thursday, the day the company put out its first-quarter earnings.

Apple's revenue for the quarter was $117.15bn, a more than 5% year-over-year drop and earnings per share of $1.88. Refinitiv estimates had put those at $121.1 billion and $1.94.

Cook pointed out that the global economy, making the dollar stronger, and causing lock-ins in China, was factors Cook pointed out about the revenue and earnings coming in below expectations, FOX Business correspondent Susan Li reported on The Evening Edit. Cook told Li that production levels in China have returned.

Cook said that in many areas of the company, we are not hiring at all, in response to a question about layoffs. We continue to hire some in engineering, but everyone is very prudent. Tech companies such as Meta Platforms, Alphabet and Microsoft have recently announced that they have reduced their headcounts, whereas Apple has so far not done so.

Cook noted that the company posted quarterly costs below what had been guided, according to Li. She said that Apple is looking at everything for possible improvements in terms of costs.

Cook was also asked if the company would build more in the U.S.

America is our home, he said. We have an advanced manufacturing fund to spend here. He said that Apple really invests in the long term, and that they are highly confident for the long term, as well as the U.S. economy and consumers.

Two of Apple's operating segments, iPad and services, topped analyst expectations. The three iPhone, Mac, and wearables, home and accessories did not.

For the first quarter, the company posted roughly $9.4 billion in iPad net sales, compared to the $7.76 billion analysts had estimated, and $20.77 billion in services net sales, compared to estimates of $20.67 billion.

The net sales figure for services was an all-time revenue record for the segment, CFO Luca Maestri said in the earnings release.

Net sales for the iPhone segment fell 8% year-over-year to $65.78 billion, while its Mac net sales came in at roughly $7.74 billion. Net sales of wearables, home and accessories were $13.48 billion.

Cook said that Apple now has more than 2 billion active devices as part of our growing installed base, a major milestone in the company's earnings release. After hours of trading Thursday, Apple shares were trading about 3% less than the $150.82 they had closed at.