Apple Inc's fiscal fourth-quarter profits jumped 67 percent to cap a year that saw unprecedented momentum in its Macintosh computer business, continued demand for iPods and the successful launch of the iPhone.
For the three months that ended Sept. 30, Apple said on Monday it earned US$904 million, or US$1.01 per share, compared with US$542 million, or US$0.62 per share, in the year-ago quarter.
Apple easily beat the expectations of analysts polled by Thomson Financial, who predicted earnings per share of US$0.86 on sales of US$6.07 billion.
PHOTO: AFP
Revenue totaled US$6.22 billion, compared with US$4.84 billion in the same quarter last year.
Apple's stock price, which has more than doubled since January, rose US$3.94, or 2.3 percent, to close at US$174.36.
After the earnings report, shares climbed about US$12, almost 7 percent, in extended trading.
Apple said it shipped a record 2.16 million Macs in the quarter, an increase of 34 percent, while it sold 10.2 million iPods, up 17 percent. The debut of a slate of new iPods last month helped accelerate sales and is expected to boost holiday revenues, Apple officials said.
The company has sold more than 120 million iPods since the product's 2001 debut.
Yet the iPhone is already tracking better than the iPod, Apple's chief operating officer Tim Cook told analysts in a conference call.
In the first full quarter of iPhone sales -- a number many on Wall Street were waiting for -- Apple said it sold 1.12 million units, bringing the cumulative total to 1.39 million since the product debuted on June 29.
"It took us over two years to achieve a comparable number for the iPod," Cook said. "So we're thrilled here."
For the full fiscal year, Apple earned a record US$3.5 billion, up more than 75 percent from last year when it earned US$1.99 billion.
Yearly sales reached over US$24 billion, a 24 percent jump from the last fiscal year.
"We had a fantastic quarter and year," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's chief financial officer.
The company's fortunes have skyrocketed in recent years as its iPods became a cultural phenomenon. The portable players have also drawn more people to Apple's software and design, leading to what analysts call a "halo effect" on Mac sales.
After hovering for years with a 2 percent to 3 percent share of the PC market in the US, Apple's slice has now grown to 8 percent, the latest figures from market researcher Gartner Inc show.
Now, many investors are betting Apple's foray in the cellphone market will be another lucrative engine.
The iPhone "is a game-changing product," said Stephen Coleman, chief investment officer at Daedalus Capital LLC.
Based on income from the iPhone alone, he said, "I expect Apple's earnings to continually grow materially at 50 percent a year, for the next three years."
Apple reiterated on Monday its previous target of selling 10 million iPhones next year, helped by the launch of the iPhone in Europe next month, then in Asia next year.
For the current quarter, Apple said it expects earnings of about US$1.42 per share on revenue of about US$9.2 billion. Analysts on average had been expecting earnings of US$1.39 per share on sales of US$8.58 billion.
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