RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Apple has posted its quarterly results, and the tech company that is expanding into Research Triangle Park missed expectations for the first time in nearly seven years.

While analysts expected the company to report earnings per share of $1.94, the company reported $1.88 per share.

And on the revenue side, the company reported $117.15 billion compared to expectations of $121.1 billion.

“The Company posted quarterly revenue of $117.2 billion, down 5 percent year over year, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $1.88,” a statement from the company reads.

As a result, the price of a share of Apple stock slid by more than two and a quarter percent as of 4:30 ET on Thursday.  But following an earnings call led by Apple CEO Tim Cook, the stock price rebounded, a bit, and is now only down by less than one-half of one percent on the day during after hours trading.

“As a result of a challenging environment, our revenue was down 5% year over year, but I’m proud of the way we have navigated circumstances seen and unforeseen over the past several years,” Cook said during a conference call on Thursday afternoon.

Google parent Alphabet misses on earnings, revenues while facing competition

What’s happening

Apple isn’t the only technology company reporting earnings this week.  Alphabet, the parent company for Google, also reported earnings on Thursday, and missed expectations on revenues and earnings per share.

Technology companies have also announced a slew of layoffs and job cuts in 2023, with about 41% of all layoffs that have been announced attributed to tech firms, according to a report released by Challenger, Gray & Christmas on Thursday morning.

Apple, so far, has not announced layoffs or job cuts.

“As we all continue to navigate a challenging environment, we are proud to have our best lineup of products and services ever, and as always, we remain focused on the long term and are leading with our values in everything we do,” said Cook, in a statement released before the investor conference call. “During the December quarter, we achieved a major milestone and are excited to report that we now have more than 2 billion active devices as part of our growing installed base.”

CNBC charted the company’s stock price, before and following the quarterly earnings results, but released the visual prior to the conference call led by Cook.

CNN reported earlier on Thursday that many analysts expected Apple to post a decline in iPhone sales.

Such a decline, reported CNN, might be the result of consumers pulling back on spending as well as the shutdown of one of Apple’s factories in China in 2022 that impacted supply.

Apple is also facing a new lawsuit that alleges that the company did not provide the privacy that it said it would.

Report: Job cuts top 100,000 in January – most are not in high tech