When Apple reported its December quarter earnings on Thursday, it revealed that China sales had dropped 11.1% on an annual basis.
It was the worst quarter by growth rate since the December quarter a year ago, and marks the sixth straight quarter of declines in Apple’s third-largest region by revenue.
Ahead of Apple earnings, analysts had been fretting about exactly this issue. They cited supply chain checks in the country suggesting weak demand and an overall impression that the Chinese consumer was starting to favor locally made devices from companies such as Huawei and Xiaomi over the iPhone.
China is “the most competitive market in the world,” Cook told analysts on Thursday. In 2024, Apple was third in market share in China, behind Vivo and Huawei, according to an IDC estimate from this week.
When Cook was asked about the company’s performance in China on Thursday by CNBC’s Steve Kovach and analysts on the earnings call, he focused less on the competition and more on how the company’s operations decisions affected China sales.
Cook said there were a few things to keep in mind about the company’s 11.1% decrease in the quarter.
Most notably, Cook cited Apple Intelligence’s absence in China and Chinese affecting sales. He added that the company’s suite of artificial intelligence features for the iPhone 16 had bolstered iPhone sales in the U.S. and other countries where it’s available.
“During the December quarter, we saw that in markets where we had rolled out Apple Intelligence, that the year-over-year performance on the iPhone 16 family was stronger than those markets where we had not rolled out Apple intelligence,” Cook said.
The company’s AI software is only available in English for now, but Apple will release a simplified Chinese version in April, Apple said Thursday. That doesn’t necessarily mean Apple Intelligence will launch in China that month, but it does mean Chinese speakers elsewhere will get to test out Apple’s AI.
“Until we get through the regulatory process, nothing is certain, and we’re going through it now,” Cook told CNBC.
He added that the company is looking for a local partner that is licensed by the country to offer their AI to handle tricky or complicated questions, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT does in the U.S.
“There are a number of Chinese companies that do have licenses to operate locally,” Cook said. “What we have to do is choose one and work with them on the integration, just like OpenAI.”
About half of the China revenue decline was because the company had misread demand in the country, Cook said. That led to a “channel inventory” issue. Apple uses the phrase “channel” to describe companies like wireless carriers and retailers that sell Apple devices.
“My point was that our channel inventory reduced from the beginning of the quarter to the end of the quarter, and that was over half of the reduction in the reported results,” Cook said. “Part of the reason for that is that our sales were a bit higher than we forecasted them to be, toward the end of the quarter.”
Apple ended the quarter “a little leaner” in inventory in the country than the company had expected to, said Cook, who also pointed to a nationwide subsidy program that could effectively reduce the cost of some Apple products in the country.
“There is now a national subsidy program that launched on Jan. 20, on categories that some of our products are a part of. It’s a fiscal stimulus, kind of,” Cook told CNBC.
The Chinese government introduced subsidy policies last year to boost consumption and domestic demand, according to analyst firm Canalys. Smartphones were added to the list of eligible products earlier this month. The subsidy is capped at 500 yuan per product, and models that cost over 6,000 yuan, such as Apple’s Pro phones, aren’t eligible.
On the earnings call Thursday, Cook said that some of Apple’s products including smartphones, tablets, PCs and smartwatches would be covered by the subsidy.
“We do see fiscal stimulus occurring, and we’ll be glad to talk about what that looks like on the next call,” Cook said.
The Hers app arranged on a smartphone in New York, US, on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025.
Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Shares of Hims & Hers Health fell 9% in extended trading on Monday after the telehealth company reported second-quarter results that missed Wall Street’s expectations for revenue.
Here’s how the company did based on average analysts’ estimates compiled by LSEG:
Earnings per share: 17 cents adjusted vs. 15 cents
Revenue: $544.8 million vs. $552 million
Revenue at Hims & Hers increased 73% in the second quarter from $315.6 million during the same period last year, according to a release. Hims & Hers reported a net income of $42.5 million, or 17 cents per share, compared to $13.3 million, or 6 cents per share, during the same period a year earlier.
For its third quarter, Hims & Hers said it expected to report revenue between $570 million to $590 million, while analysts were expecting $583 million. The company said its adjusted EBITDA for the quarter will be between the range of $60 million to $70 million. Analysts polled by StreetAccount were expecting $77.1 million.
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Hims & Hers has faced controversy in recent months over its continued sale of compounded GLP-1s, which are cheaper, unapproved versions of the blockbuster diabetes and weight loss drugs. Compounded drugs can be mass produced when brand-name treatments are in shortage, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced in February that ongoing supply issues had been resolved.
Some telehealth companies, including Hims & Hers, have continued to offer the compounded medications. It’s legal for patients to access personalized doses of the knockoffs in unique cases, like if they are allergic to an ingredient in a branded product, for instance. Hims & Hers has said consumers may still be able to access personalized doses through its site if clinically applicable.
In June, Hims & Hers shares tumbled more than 30% after a short-lived collaboration with Novo Nordisk fell apart. The drugmaker said Hims & Hers “failed to adhere to the law which prohibits mass sales of compounded drugs” under the “false guise” of personalization.
Hims & Hers reported adjusted EBITDA of $82 million for its second quarter, up from $39.3 million last year and above the $73 million expected by StreetAccount.
Hims & Hers will host its quarterly call with investors at 5 p.m. ET.
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YTD chart of Hims & Hers Health.
–CNBC’s Annika Kim Constantino contributed to this report
Palantir topped Wall Street’s estimates Monday, surpassing $1 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time, and hiking its full-year guidance.
Shares rallied more than 5%.
Here’s how the company did versus LSEG estimates:
Earnings per share: 16 cents adj. vs. 14 cents expected
Revenue: $1.00 billion vs. $940 million expected
The artificial intelligence software provider’s revenues grew 48% during the period. Analysts hadn’t expected the $1 billion revenue benchmark from the Denver-based company until the fourth quarter of this year.
“The growth rate of our business has accelerated radically, after years of investment on our part and derision by some,” wrote CEO Alex Karp in a letter to shareholders. “The skeptics are admittedly fewer now, having been defanged and bent into a kind of submission.”
The software analytics company also boosted its full-year outlook guidance. For the full year, Palantir now expects revenues to range between $4.142 billion and $4.150 billion, up from prior guidance of $3.89 billion to $3.90 billion.
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For the third quarter, Palantir forecast revenues between $1.083 billion and $1.087 billion, beating an analyst estimate of $983 million. Palantir also lifted its operating income and full-year free cash flow guidance.
Palantir’s U.S. revenues jumped 68% from a year ago to $733 million, while U.S. commercial revenues nearly doubled from a year ago to $306 million.
The software analytics company has seen a boost from President Donald Trump‘s government efficiency campaign, which included layoffs and contract cuts. Palantir’s U.S. government revenues jumped 53% from the year-ago period to $426 million.
“It has been a steep and upward climb — an ascent that is a reflection of the remarkable confluence of the arrival of language models, the chips necessary to power them, and our software infrastructure,” Karp wrote in a letter to shareholders.
During the quarter, Palantir said it closed 66 deals of at least $5 million and 42 deals totaling at least $10 million. Total value of its contracts grew 140% from last year to $2.27 billion.
Net income rose 144% to about $326.7 million, or 13 cents a share, from about $134.1 million, or 6 cents per share a year ago.
Palantir shares have more than doubled this year as investors bet on the company’s AI tools and contract agreements with governments.
Its market value has accelerated past $379 billion and into the list of top 20 most valuable U.S companies, surpassing Salesforce, IBM and Cisco to join the top 10 U.S. tech companies by market cap. Shares hit a new high Monday.
At its size, buying the stock requires investors to pay hefty multiples.
Shares currently trade 276 times forward earnings, according to FactSet. Tesla is the only other top 20 with a triple-digit ratio at 177.
Firefly Aerospace CEO Jason Kim sits for an interview at the Firefly Aerospace mission operations center in Leander, Texas, on July 9, 2025.
Sergio Flores | Reuters
Firefly Aerospace has lifted the share price range for its upcoming initial public offering in a move that would value the space technology company at more than $6 billion.
The lunar lander and rocket maker said in a filing Monday that it expects to price shares in its upcoming IPO between $41 and $43 apiece.
Firefly’s new target range would raise nearly $697 million at the top end of the range. That’s up from the previously expected $35 to $39 price per share that Firefly announced in a filing last week, which targeted a $5.5 billion valuation.
Firefly announced plans to go public last month as interest in space technology gains steam, and billionaire-led companies such as Elon Musk‘s SpaceX rake in more funding.
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The industry has also begun testing the public markets after a long hiatus in IPO deal activity, with space tech firm Voyager debuting in June.
Firefly makes rockets, space tugs and lunar landers, and is widely known for its satellite launching rockets known as Alpha.
The company has partnered with major defense players such as Lockheed Martin, L3Harris and NASA, and received a $50 million investment from defense contractor Northrop Grumman.
Firefly’s revenues jumped from $8.3 million a year ago to $55.9 million at the end of March, the company said. Its net loss grew to $60.1 million, from $52.8 million a year ago.