Apple's Quarterly Report Disappoints Wall Street

For the first time in years, Apple’s quarterly results failed to live up to Wall Street's expectations.

The company's shares dropped some 7 percent Wednesday morning during the first trading session since Apple's most recent quarterly report was unveiled. But despite the current disappointment, analysts say that the first earnings report under new CEO Tim Cook is far from the coming of an Apple apocalypse. 

Reuters explains that the tech giant's disappointing numbers were due in large part to the later-than-expected release of the iPhone 4S, which analysts had expected to be unveiled in September. Given the buzz over the summer about what everyone expected to be the iPhone 5, buyers held off buying the iPhone 4 causing sales to fall. 

The company said that it sold roughly 17 million iPhones over the past three months, well short of the 20 million that many analysts had predicted.

But at least one analyst called the results a "black swan" and suggested that now is the time for investors to scoop up shares. "We would be aggressive buyers of Apple this morning as we anticipate a big holiday season for the company," Brian White, an analyst with Ticonderoga Securities, told Reuters.

Fueling investor optimism is the success of the new iPhone 4S. Many observers initially wondered aloud if the lack of a "5" would slow sales, but consumers quickly proved those fears unwarranted, purchasing more than one million of the devices within the first 24 hours they were available for pre-order.

It's also important to note that Apple is held to a different standard than most companies when it comes to quarterly returns. While short of expectations, Apple reported that quarterly revenues actually jumped roughly $8 billion over the past year to more than $28 billion, as CNET reports.