Apple posts $1.58b profit

Apple on Tuesday posted revenue of $9.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.58 billion, or $1.76 per diluted share for its fiscal 2008 first quarter ended December 29, 2007. The Company said that the results compare to revenue of $7.1 billion and net quarterly profit of $1 billion, or $1.14 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had forecast Apple to earn $1.62 a share on revenue of $9.47 billion. Gross margin was 34.7 percent, up from 31.2 percent in the year-ago quarter, while international sales accounted for 45 percent of the quarter's revenue. Apple shipped 2,319,000 Macs, representing 44 percent unit growth and 47 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. The Company also said it sold 22,121,000 iPods during the quarter, representing five percent unit growth and 17 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone sales were 2,315,000.

"We're thrilled to report our best quarter ever, with the highest revenue and earnings in Apple's history," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We have an incredibly strong new product pipeline for 2008, starting with MacBook Air, Mac Pro and iTunes Movie Rentals in the first two weeks."

"Apple's revenue grew 35 percent year-over-year to $9.6 billion, an increase of almost $2.5 billion over the previous December quarter's record-breaking results," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. "Our strong results produced cash flow from operations of over $2.7 billion during the quarter, yielding an ending cash balance of over $18.4 billion. Looking ahead to the second quarter of fiscal 2008, we expect revenue of about $6.8 billion and earnings per diluted share of about $.94."

by MacNN Staff