New CEO John Ternus delivers an Apple earnings beat — but soft China and iPad sales

John Ternus, Apple's new CEO, unveiled the company's earnings report for the first time on Monday. The report showed Apple exceeding expectations with revenue of $114.5 billion for the third quarter, or its fiscal fourth quarter, surpassing Wall Street's estimates of $113.46 billion. Earnings per share also beat estimates, coming in at $2.10 compared to the expected $2.00.

However, the report did not provide favorable news for all segments. Apple's revenue from China, a key market, fell short of analysts' expectations, totaling $17.54 billion against estimates of $18.75 billion. Additionally, iPad sales were lower than anticipated, amounting to $6.23 billion compared to Wall Street's estimate of $6.83 billion.

On the positive side, Apple's Services segment performed as expected, bringing in $31.57 billion. The company's highly regarded gross margin remained at 47.9%. Apple's new CEO, who succeeded Tim Cook on September 1, has already introduced several major new products, including a folding smartphone, the iPhone Duo, a smart home hub, Apple HomeView, and the first touchscreen MacBook Pro. While the iPhone Duo didn't launch until October, Wall Street will be watching to see how early orders are progressing.

Ternus faced challenges in his debut earnings call, including the impact of soaring memory costs and supply chain constraints, which led to price increases for hardware. The CEO will lead his first earnings call with analysts at 5 p.m. ET.