“Apple Inc.’s fiscal second quarter was another blowout, with results that easily surpassed Wall Street’s expectations, but it wasn’t enough for investors to warm up to the company’s stock any further,” Jordan Robertson reports for The Associated Press.

“While Apple’s sales jumped 43 percent and profits rose 36 percent, higher than analyst estimates, lower-than-expected guidance for the third quarter held the stock down,” Robertson reports.

MacDailyNews Take: Yes, it’s shocking that Apple provided conservative guidance. Just shocking.

“Investors decided that they still need to take a cautious approach toward a company known for its conservative guidance but also heavily weighted toward the U.S. market, which is rife with turbulence stemming from the crisis in the credit and housing markets,” Robertson reports.

“Investors were worried that Apple’s gross profit margin — a key measure of how well a company controls manufacturing costs and pricing — came in below what many on Wall Street were expecting, despite Apple beating the net income estimate,” Robertson reports. “Apple’s gross profit margin was 32.9 percent of revenues, better than the company’s guidance but below the 35.1 percent in the year-ago period.”

“Investors were also concerned because Apple’s third-quarter profit guidance of $1 per share is below the $1.10 per share that analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were expecting. The expected sales of $7.2 billion, however, would be slightly higher than Wall Street’s average forecast of $7.16 billion,” Robertson reports.

“Apple has traditionally issued conservative financial forecasts, and its U.S. sales were particularly strong in the latest quarter, rising 40 percent over last year,” Robertson reports. “So many investors were left scratching their heads about how to interpret Apple’s outlook.”

MacDailyNews Take: Uh, how about interpreting it as conservative? Sheesh.

Robertson reports, “The company earned $1.05 billion, or $1.16 per share, in its second quarter, which ended March 29. That’s 9 cents per share better than the average analyst estimate. During the same period last year, Apple earned $770 million, or 87 cents per share. Revenue jumped to $7.51 billion, better than the $6.96 billion analysts were expecting. Apple said it was the strongest second-quarter sales and earnings performance in the company’s history.”

Full article here.