Apple's quarterly profit soared past Wall Street expectations on strong sales of iPhones and iPods, underscoring the popularity of the company's relatively expensive products even in the midst of a weak economy.
Known for giving conservative outlooks, Apple projected profit and revenue for the current quarter below average Wall Street estimates, but that did not discourage investors, who drove its shares up 3 per cent after-hours last night.
In the first quarter since chief executive Steve Jobs went on medical leave, net profit rose to $1.21 billion, or $1.33 a share, compared to $1.05 billion, or $1.16 a share, a year ago.
Revenue rose 8.7 per cent to $8.16 billion in the fiscal second quarter ended March 28th, beating the average forecast of $7.96 billion.
"I think in a better economy our sales certainly would have been higher but ... we have just reported the best non-holiday quarter in Apple's history despite the economy that we find ourselves in," chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer told Reuters in a telephone interview.
When asked about Mr Jobs on a conference call, he said, "We look forward to Steve returning to Apple at the end of June."
Apple's gross margin rose to a higher-than-expected 36.4 per cent, from 32.9 per cent a year ago, benefiting from favourable commodity and component costs.
The company forecast fiscal third-quarter earnings of 95 cents to $1.00 a share on revenue of $7.7 billion to $7.9 billion. That compared to Street estimates for earnings of $1.12 a share on revenue of $8.3 billion.
Apple said the revenue outlook reflects its decision to delay revenue recognition for iPhones sold on or after March 17th until its new iPhone operating system is released. Apple did the same thing last year when it updated software.
Apple shipped 3.79 million iPhones in the March quarter, better than the roughly 3.3 million units analysts were expecting but down from 4.4 million in the December period.
Chief operating officer Tim Cook said Apple was happy with its relationship with AT&T, the exclusive US carrier for the iPhone, and had no plans to change it.
Apple also said it would like to begin selling the iPhone in China in the next year.
More than 21 million iPhones have now been sold since launch in 2007. Combined with the iPod touch, which uses the same software as the iPhone, around 37 million units have been sold.
Apple expects to see the 1 billionth iPhone application downloaded from its online store today.
Apple sold 11.01 million iPods during the quarter, above the 10 million forecast by analysts. Mac computer shipments totalled 2.22 million, down from last year but in line with expectations.
The stock has gained more than 50 per cent since hitting a 52-week low in January, despite some concerns about Mr Jobs.
Reuters