“‘The numbers are spectacular,’ said Shaw Wu of Kaufman Bros. in an e-mail. ‘They were able to post very strong results despite an inventory drawdown on the iPhone 4 — looks like they managed the iPhone 3GS to 4 transition smoother than expected,'” Gallagher reports. “For the quarter ended June 27, the company reported earnings of $3.25 billion, or $3.51 per share, compared with earnings of $1.83 billion, or $2.01 per share, for the same period the previous year. Revenue jumped 61% to $15.7 billion.”
“Analysts were expecting earnings of $3.11 per share on revenue of $14.75 billion, according to consensus forecasts from Thomson Reuters,” Gallagher reports. “Apple sold 3.27 million iPads for the period — roughly in line with the units predicted by analysts. Mac sales totaled 3.47 million units compared with expectations for 3.2 million units. ‘The Mac number is the most impressive,’ said Colin Gillis of BGC Partners. ‘One of the points we’ve been trying to make is that there is a virtuous circle going on with Apple, as customers who are exposed to the iPhone and iPad also want a Mac.'”
Gallagher reports, “For the fourth fiscal quarter, Apple said it expects revenue of $18 billion with earnings of $3.44 per share. Analysts had been expecting revenue of $3.82 per share on revenue of $17.03 billion. Wu of Kaufman Bros. called the revenue forecast ‘surprisingly upbeat’ for the company, but said the earnings guidance was ‘typically conservative.'”
Full article here.