Mercury News
Apple reports record quarter
Apple -- the Cupertino maker of Mac computers and "i" devices (iPad, iPhone, iPod) -- this afternoon reported a $4.31 billion profit for its most recent quarter, up 70 percent from a year earlier. Revenue jumped nearly 67 percent to a record $20.34 billion."We are blown away to report over $20 billion in revenue and over $4 billion in after-tax earnings -- both all-time records for Apple," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement accompanying the results. "iPhone sales of 14.1 million were up 91 percent year-over-year, handily beating the 12.1 million phones RIM sold in their most recent quarter. We still have a few surprises left for the remainder of this calendar year."
The company also reported record sales for the Mac, at 3.89 million, up 27 percent from a year earlier. Sales of the new iPad tablet computer were 4.19 million. (According to the Business Insider blog, some analysts had been expecting 4.7 million to 5 million iPad sales.) As for the iPod, Apple sold 9.05 million, down 11 percent.
Apple's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings came in at $4.64 a share. By contrast, analysts had expected earnings of $4.06 a share on revenue of $18.86 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.
For the current holiday quarter, Apple expects another record: about $23 billion in revenue, Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said.
"We're thrilled with the performance and strength of our business, generating almost $5.7 billion in cash flow from operations during the quarter," Oppenheimer said.
Apple released its results before the stock markets closed this afternoon. The shares finished regular trading at $318, up $3.26, or 1 percent, from Friday's close -- after earlier hitting an all-time high of $319. With iPad sales below expectations, Apple stock was down in after-hours trading.
