Apple rallies 3% after smashing revenue forecasts and teasing metaverse plans

• Apple's stock rose 3% at the open Friday after the tech giant smashed earnings forecasts.
• CEO Tim Cook teased its metaverse plans, saying: "We see a lot of potential in this space and are investing accordingly."

Apple stock rose 3% in early trading Friday after smashing quarterly revenue and profit forecasts, and after its CEO Tim Cook teased its plans to invest in the metaverse.

Revenue rose 11% year-on-year to hit $123.9 billion in the final three months of 2021, the iPhone and MacBook maker said in its fiscal first-quarter earnings report on Thursday. That was well above the $119 billion analysts had been expecting.

Profit jumped 20% to $34.6 billion, as the world's biggest company successfully navigated supply-chain disruptions to boost sales sharply in the Americas, China, and Europe.

On an earnings call, Cook gave a hint of its plans to invest in the metaverse — a broad term for virtual worlds where people create avatars to play games, work, build things, or watch virtual events.

"We see a lot of potential in this space and are investing accordingly," Cook said in response to a question about Apple's role in the metaverse market.

Apple's stock was up 2.56% on Friday to $163.29, as of 9.36 a.m. ET.

The company's shares were more than 10% lower in 2022 as of Thursday's close, having been caught up in the major sell-off in US and global equity markets.

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Technology companies have been particularly hard hit, with investors questioning their expensive share prices as the Federal Reserve prepares to raise interest rates to stamp down on the hottest inflation in 39 years. Investors have pivoted towards so-called value stocks, such as those in the energy sector.

Yet Apple's strong earnings were not enough to help the broader tech sector Friday, with the Nasdaq 100 index down 0.29% shortly after the open. The S&P 500 was 0.51% lower.

"Apple has shown its core strength in a stellar round of quarterly numbers," said Sophie Lund-Yates, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

"That's resulted in a positive initial reaction from the market, despite concerns continuing to swirl about the upcoming Fed announcement, and what this could mean for US high-growth companies."

Apple's earnings per share rose to $2.10, compared with the $1.90 predicted by analysts, and the company said sales should stay strong over the coming months.

It briefly became the first company to reach a market capitalization of $3 trillion at the start of January, with CEO Cook having overseen a surge in the stock price. The company's market cap was around $2.6 trillion as of Thursday's close, however.