Apple posts $430M profit on strong iPod, Mac growth

Is dropping after hours... Guess Apple didn't beat the street by enough...

The problem for a change was with iPod sales. The street expected 7.5-8.0 million, but it ended up being "only" 6.451 million.

On the other hand, Mac sales were again stronger than projected.

I don't bother with worrying about afterhour trading stats because they are just people short selling or taking quick profits. Apple exceeded forecasts for all categories and their predictions for the next quarter were pretty good too.

If you watch these guys, wall street, they are watching really closely.... Rev was expected at 3.74 B but came in at 3.68 Billion - which spooks the market ( and sell programs kick in if stock goes down x dollars - making it exaggerated - plus it's amateur hour - after hours low volumes make manipulations extreme ) iPod is fine, Apple was switching from iPod Mini - and clearing out stocks, and starting iPod Nano - which was expected to be under 1 million for month 1 - and a LOT higher next 3 months.... So, considering deliberately lowering iPod inventory - for transition - sales were awesome ( may take a few hours to explain it to wall street though )

1st quarter 1,046,000 2nd quarter 1,070,000 3rd quarter 1,182,000 4th quarter 1,236,000

4,534,000 sold for FY2005

assuming a 'modest' 40% unit sale increase for FY2006 would translate to: 6,347,000 units sold.

Not bad, maybe it will be even better.

...Instead of the stock. At least I'd have something cool to play music on and I would have helped make up the top-line revenue shortfall. :-) I hope shmoolie is right about after-hours stats. Personally, I think it's great the company made big bux without the additional revenue. Seems like they're reaching some new economies of scale...if you bother looking at the financials.

"Seems like they're reaching some new economies of scale...if you bother looking at the financials."

Apple is in a groove and has been for a couple of years now. The nice thing about this is that the economies of scale, as you put it can help accelerate this - kind of comparable to using drag to keep up with and surpass your opponents in racing, only on an economic scale. Because Apple is doing better on all fronts they don't need to sweat the little stuff as much and they can count on the fact that things tend to go in one direction easier than they are moved in another. So long as they don't make a huge blunder they can expect to see increases in revenue and profits and that will lead to even more as it continues to snowball. I predicted this exact scenario to my coworkers a year and a half ago and most did not believe me. I'm very happy with Apple's direction and Apple's stockholders have to be thrilled with the company - one of the top wall st. performers over the past 2 years. So, even if the stock takes a small hit some days it still is so far above where it was just 2 years ago that people have made money hand over foot from it - unless they were latecomers which happens to every stock.

The final point in Apple's favor is that they are selling a tremendous number of Macs as well and increasing their overall market share. Sure, Apple will never get to be the majority computer but that's fine. Selling 5 million computers a year is nothing to sneeze at and if they can get it a bit higher each quarter then revenue and profits will accelerate not only for them but for peripheral and software makers too. The fact that Apple announced today that they forecast sales in the 6 billion dollar range this coming quarter is staggering for a company that just a few years ago was almost given up for dead.

Another thing to realize is that if a company's earnings deviate too far from the anal cysts predictions, the stock will suffer.

Yeah, it's Wall Street. They wouldn't know logic if it hit 'em with the broadside of a barn.

" Another thing to realize is that if a company's earnings deviate too far from the anal cysts predictions, the stock will suffer.

Yeah, it's Wall Street. They wouldn't know logic if it hit 'em with the broadside of a barn."

Sigh. Another zealous kid posting pretending he knows something about finance when the best he can come up with is lame rhymes.

A company's earning does not have to "deviate too far" - it can be one cent below the consensus earnings or the whisper and be punished. And don't pretend you are one iota smarter than the analysts. If you are, become one, earn gazillions, donate to charity and worthy cause, change reputation of industry, show them how it is done blah blah rather than snipe cowardly on Macnn.

Apple has sales shortfall, shares fall

Tuesday October 11, 7:23 PM EDT

By Duncan Martell

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc. on Tuesday reported quarterly profit quadrupled, but the iPod music player maker's revenue fell short of investor expectations and shares tumbled more than 10 percent.

Apple shares have traded at a premium to other computer makers due to the iPod phenomenon, and analysts said any disappointment was likely to lead to a sell-off.

"Expectations for Apple's results were pretty high and they needed to beat estimates for us to see a boost in the stock this afternoon," said Jim Fisher, a fund manager at Univest Wealth Management, who owns Apple shares. "Revenue came a bit lower than expected and that's why we are seeing Apple dip a bit lower after the bell."