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From today's NY Times...
Apple Profit Rises 27%; Stock Jumps
By LAURIE J. FLYNN
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Computer said Wednesday that strong sales of its Macintosh computers and iPod portable music players led to a 27 percent rise in its fiscal fourth-quarter profit.
The results, released after the market closed, caused Apple’s shares to jump as much as 6 percent in late trading as the company surpassed Wall Street forecasts.
Apple said a brisk back-to-school season was a major force behind the better-than-expected results. But executives cautioned that the report was subject to revision, as an investigation into the mishandling of stock option grants was likely to require a restatement of previous results.
The company, which is based in Cupertino, Calif., reported net income of $546 million, or 62 cents a share, in the quarter, up from $430 million, or 50 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue was $4.84 billion, an increase of nearly 32 percent from $3.68 billion the year before.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had forecast Apple to report earnings of 51 cents a share on $4.7 billion in revenue.
Macintosh sales accounted for 58 percent of revenue in the quarter, spurred in part by the new school season’s huge demand for notebook computers, the company said. In September, Apple expanded its line of Macs and completed a transition to Intel-based microprocessors.
In a conference call with analysts, the chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, spoke of “the best Mac shipments by far in any quarter in Apple’s history.”
The company said it shipped 1.6 million Macintosh computers, up 30 percent from a year earlier. Revenue from desktop and portable Macs increased 37 percent, to $2.2 billion.
Apple’s chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, said: “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.”
An analyst at Piper Jaffray, Eugene A. Munster, seemed to agree. “It’s an impressive quarter,” he said. “They blew away even the highest expectations on the Mac side.”
Mr. Munster said the strong sales of Macs proved the validity of the iPod’s “halo effect,” meaning that iPod customers are increasingly first-time Macintosh customers.
Apple added 10 retail stores during the quarter, for a total of 165, and has begun pilot programs to sell Apple products in Best Buy stores.
According to the market research company IDC, Apple’s share of the United States computer market grew to 5.8 percent from 4.3 percent in the quarter the year before. Revenue from music products, including the iPod and the iTunes music service, was more than $2 billion in the quarter, up from $1.48 billion a year earlier.
The company sold 8.7 million iPods in the quarter, for $1.56 billion in revenue, an increase from 6.5 million iPods and $1.21 billion in revenue a year earlier.
This quarter, Mr. Oppenheimer said, Apple is forecasting revenue of $6 billion to $6.2 billion and earnings of 70 cents to 73 cents a share.
In regular trading, before the report was released, Apple’s shares rose 24 cents, to $74.53.
By LAURIE J. FLYNN
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Computer said Wednesday that strong sales of its Macintosh computers and iPod portable music players led to a 27 percent rise in its fiscal fourth-quarter profit.
The results, released after the market closed, caused Apple’s shares to jump as much as 6 percent in late trading as the company surpassed Wall Street forecasts.
Apple said a brisk back-to-school season was a major force behind the better-than-expected results. But executives cautioned that the report was subject to revision, as an investigation into the mishandling of stock option grants was likely to require a restatement of previous results.
The company, which is based in Cupertino, Calif., reported net income of $546 million, or 62 cents a share, in the quarter, up from $430 million, or 50 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue was $4.84 billion, an increase of nearly 32 percent from $3.68 billion the year before.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had forecast Apple to report earnings of 51 cents a share on $4.7 billion in revenue.
Macintosh sales accounted for 58 percent of revenue in the quarter, spurred in part by the new school season’s huge demand for notebook computers, the company said. In September, Apple expanded its line of Macs and completed a transition to Intel-based microprocessors.
In a conference call with analysts, the chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, spoke of “the best Mac shipments by far in any quarter in Apple’s history.”
The company said it shipped 1.6 million Macintosh computers, up 30 percent from a year earlier. Revenue from desktop and portable Macs increased 37 percent, to $2.2 billion.
Apple’s chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, said: “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.”
An analyst at Piper Jaffray, Eugene A. Munster, seemed to agree. “It’s an impressive quarter,” he said. “They blew away even the highest expectations on the Mac side.”
Mr. Munster said the strong sales of Macs proved the validity of the iPod’s “halo effect,” meaning that iPod customers are increasingly first-time Macintosh customers.
Apple added 10 retail stores during the quarter, for a total of 165, and has begun pilot programs to sell Apple products in Best Buy stores.
According to the market research company IDC, Apple’s share of the United States computer market grew to 5.8 percent from 4.3 percent in the quarter the year before. Revenue from music products, including the iPod and the iTunes music service, was more than $2 billion in the quarter, up from $1.48 billion a year earlier.
The company sold 8.7 million iPods in the quarter, for $1.56 billion in revenue, an increase from 6.5 million iPods and $1.21 billion in revenue a year earlier.
This quarter, Mr. Oppenheimer said, Apple is forecasting revenue of $6 billion to $6.2 billion and earnings of 70 cents to 73 cents a share.
In regular trading, before the report was released, Apple’s shares rose 24 cents, to $74.53.