Apple Inc reported its best second quarter ever on Wednesday with net profit growing 15 percent to US$1.2 billion, largely on strong sales of the iPhone.
The iconic California company reported revenue of US$8.16 billion in the three months that ended on March 28, up from US$7.51 billion in the corresponding quarter a year ago.
That exceeded Apple’s own forecasts of US$7.9 billion to US$8 billion and was better than the US$7.96 billion expected by Wall Street analysts.
Earnings per share of US$1.84 were well above the US$1.09 expected by analysts.
The Cupertino, California-based Apple said it sold 2.22 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, down 3 percent from a year ago. The company sold 11.01 million iPods, up 3 percent from a year ago. Sales of iPhones, meanwhile, soared 123 percent during the quarter to 3.79 million.
“We are extremely pleased to report the best non-holiday quarter revenue and earnings in our history,” Apple chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer said in a statement.
“Apple’s financial condition remains very robust, with almost 29 billion dollars in cash and marketable securities on our balance sheet,” the statement said.
Apple released a typically cautious forecast for this quarter.
“Looking ahead to the third fiscal quarter of 2009, we expect revenue in the range of about 7.7 billion dollars to 7.9 billion dollars and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about [US$0.95 to US$1],” it said.
The statement also said chief executive Steve Jobs, who went on a leave of absence in January for health reasons, was expected to return at the end of June.
“We’re looking forward to Steve returning at the end of June,” Oppenheimer said in a conference call with analysts that followed the release of Apple’s results.
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