“Apple blew past Wall Street’s expectations with a fiscal fourth-quarter report on Oct. 19 that showed profits surged 47% and revenues climbed 25% on lofty Mac computer sales,” Arik Hesseldahl reports for BusinessWeek.
“Apple rode strong consumer sales of its Mac PCs and iPhones during the quarter,” Hesseldahl reports.
MacDailyNews Take: “Mac PCs.” Cringe. That’s sounds almost as jarring as “Microsoft Works.”
Hesseldahl continues, “Sales shot up to nearly $9.9 billion, vs. $7.9 billion a year ago. Net income reached $1.67 billion, or $1.82 per share, compared to $1.26 a year ago. Gross margin, a key measure of profitability, was 36.3%.”
MacDailyNews Take: Upon hearing Apple’s gross margin figure, Michael Dell promptly fainted. When we woke up, he vowed to “make it all up in volume.” Not too bright, that Mikey.
Hesseldahl continues, “The results bested the estimates of even the most bullish analysts. Wall Street’s consensus estimate was that Apple would report sales of $9.2 billion and earn $1.42 per share. ‘My estimates were higher than the Street’s, people told me I was too high, and they still beat both my numbers,’ says Brian Marshall, an analyst with Broadpoint AmTech.”
“Shares of Apple soared in extended trading, adding 6.3% after closing Oct. 19 at 189.86, a gain of 1.81, or nearly 1%,” Hesseldahl reports. “At one point in extended trading, the shares reached nearly 205. Apple’s all-time intraday high price during a regular trading session is 202.96, set on Dec. 27, 2007, and it has been trading near its 52-week high of 190 in recent days.”
Full article here.
