“There’s nothing like a solid quarter to take the market’s mind off bad news elsewhere. That happened on Jan. 21, when Apple (AAPL) released a report showing better-than-expected profit and record revenue and iPod unit sales. Sales in the fiscal first quarter rose 6% to $10.17 billion while profits increased to $1.61 billion, or $1.78 a share, outpacing the average analyst estimate of $1.39,” Arik Hesseldahl reports for BusinessWeek.
“The company spreads iPhone sales over two years, accounting for $1.2 billion in revenue in the most recent period. Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said the “total sales value” of iPhones sold during the quarter was $2.6 billion. During calendar 2008, Apple sold 13.7 million iPhones, beating its goal of selling 10 million units in that period. It expects to have the iPhone selling in more than 70 countries by the end of this quarter,” Hesseldahl reports.
“Sales of Macintosh computers grew 9%, hitting 2.5 million units. Apple continued to benefit from the release in the previous quarter of a new line of notebooks. Desktop sales declined 25%, falling to 728,000 units, from 977,000 a year ago. Oppenheimer pointed out that sales of the iMac, Apple’s consumer desktop, surged by more than 50% in August 2007, when the product was upgraded. He also said the drop reflects a broad shift in consumer preferences for notebooks,” Hesseldahl reports. “In all, the results fueled a surge in Apple shares. In extended trading, the stock rose more than 9%, to 90.55. Earlier, the shares had risen almost 6%, to 82.83.”
Full article here.
