SAN JOSE, Calif. — Even as some investors have begun to question how much longer Apple can keep strutting its spectacular bottom line, the world’s largest tech company on Tuesday made an impressive vault out of the gate with its first earnings report of 2012 showing a 118-percent jump in profit.
The Cupertino, Calif., company reported earnings of $13.06 billion, or $13.87 per diluted share, for its first quarter of its fiscal year. Revenues soared to $46.3 billion, up from $26.7 billion for the same quarter a year ago.
The numbers blew past Wall Street’s projections. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $10.07 a share on sales of $38.76 billion.
“We’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs,” said CEO Tim Cook, who took over from Apple’s ailing co-founder Steve Jobs last August, just weeks before Jobs died from pancreatic cancer. “Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline.”
Apple said its gross margin was 44.7 percent compared to 38.5 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 58 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
As Apple sailed into the new year with $81.6 billion in cash, the steady hand of Cook at the helm, and excitement building over rumored releases of a new iPad 3 and iTV, some analysts still wondered whether the rivals nipping at Apple’s heels might begin to chip away at the company’s torrid growth pace.
But in contrast to last quarter, when Apple saw its first revenue miss since 2008 for the October quarter, Tuesday’s scorecard was stunning.
Apple said it sold 37.04 million iPhones during the fiscal first quarter, which includes the holiday shopping season and was the first reporting period to include the new iPhone 4S. That figure was up 128 percent from the same quarter a year earlier. Apple also said it sold 15.43 million iPads and 5.2 million Mac computers. That compares to analysts average estimates of roughly 31 million iPhones, 13.5 million to 14 million iPads and 5 million Mac computers.
Many analysts remain upbeat for Apple’s future.
“This is just a stepping point for it to go another 15 to 20 percent higher than it is now,” said Michael Yoshikami, CEO of YCMNET Advisors, which owns Apple shares, adding that international expansion will drive much of the upside. “The stock is cheap relative to companies like Google. It’s a good value, especially considering what a growth trajectory this company is on.”
Apple’s stock gained 25 percent in 2011, adding about $77 billion to its market capitalization, and its share price touched an all-time high of $431.36 last week.
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