Yesterday, “CEO Steve Jobs & Co. obliterated Wall Street’s expectations, boosting sales 24%, to $5.41 billion, from the third quarter of last year. Even more impressive, net income soared 73%, to $818 million. In after-hours trading on July 25, investors’ fervor sent shares up $13, to more than $150, more than erasing the previous day’s decline,” Peter Burrows reports for BusinessWeek.
MacDailyNews Note: AAPL is currently trading around $145 in pre-market trading this morning after a pre-market high of $149.19.
Burrows reports, “The reasons for the change of heart had nothing to do with the iPhone. The company booked just $5 million in iPhone sales for the quarter, most of it for accessories. Rather, the Mac took a star turn. Despite rumors of soon-to-come new iMacs, Apple still increased its computer sales by 33% in the quarter. That’s nearly three times the 12.5% overall PC industry growth reported by market researcher IDC (IDC) on July 18. Apple increased its market share in the quarter to a 10-year high… Gross margins rose from 30.3% to 36.9%, an enormous increase for the PC business.”
“The latest quarter shows that Apple is gaining leverage from its unique cupboard of technologies. While many large rivals have scores of products with little in common with each other, Apple increasingly is creating its products from the same set of ingredients,” Burrows reports. “The result: Apple should be able to continue to boost profits faster than its sales growth, which may keep analysts scrambling for ways to justify higher and higher targets for Apple’s share price.”
Much more in the full article, “Why Apple Profits Pack Such Punch,” here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Michael” for the heads up.]