Apple today announced a 27 percent increase in profit compared to a year-ago, posting revenue of $4.84 billion and a quarterly profit of $546 million, or $.62 per diluted share. The company beat the estimates of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call who forecast Apple to earn 51 cents a share on $4.67 billion, according to MarketWatch. During the same period one-year ago, the company posted revenues of $3.68 billion and net profit of $430 million, or $.50 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Apple said it shipped just over 1.6 million (1,610,000) Macs and 8,729,000 iPods during the quarter, representing 30 percent growth in Macs and 35 percent growth in iPods over the year-ago quarter. In its release, however, Apple dubbed the results as "preliminary"--because of its stock grant issues--saying that they may be "subject to significant adjustment as a result of a likely restatement of historical results."

"This strong quarter caps an extraordinary year for Apple. Selling more than 39 million iPods and 5.3 million Macs while performing an incredibly complex architecture transition is something we are all very proud of," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Looking forward, 2007 is likely to be one of the most exciting new product years in Apple's history."

The company said that gross margin was 29.2 percent, up from 28.1 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 40 percent of the quarter's revenue.

"We are pleased to have finished the year with over $10 billion in cash and to have increased annual revenue by $11 billion in the last two years," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. "Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2007, we expect revenue of $6.0 to $6.2 billion and earnings per diluted share of $.70 to $.73."