SAN JOSE, Calif. – Apple Inc. blew past Wall Street expectations Wednesday, posting quarterly profits that jumped by 88 percent, fueled by strong sales of its iPod players and Macintosh computers.
In the first three months of the year, the Cupertino-based company said it earned $770 million, or 87 cents per share, up from $410 million, or 47 cents per share, in the year-ago period.
Sales were $5.26 billion, up 21 percent from $4.36 billion last year.
Analysts, on average, were looking for earnings of 64 cents per share on sales of $5.17 billion, according to a poll by Thomson Financial.
Apple said it shipped 1.5 million Macintosh computers and more than 10.5 million iPods during the quarter, representing a 36 percent growth in Macs and 24 percent growth in the music players.
“We are very pleased to report the most profitable March quarter in Apple’s history,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s chief financial officer.
The company said it expects revenue of about $5.1 billion and earnings per share of about 66 cents in the current quarter, which is the third in Apple’s fiscal year. Apple’s projections are actually lower than the forecasts Wall Street had before Wednesday.
Shares of Apple closed at $95.35, up $2.11, or about 2 percent, on the Nasdaq Stock Market, then leaped to $102.73 in after-hours trading.
At Wednesday’s closing price, the shares have gained about 11 percent this year, boosted partly by anticipation over Apple’s iPhone, the cellphone-iPod combination due to be released in June. Investors have largely remain unfazed by Apple’s stock options troubles, with industry analysts widely predicting Steve Jobs’ position at Apple will remain intact.
But legal experts say Jobs is still in legal limbo: An investigation by federal prosecutors continues and new accusations emerged Tuesday from the company’s former chief financial officer, alleging Jobs may have had a more significant role in the backdating of options than previously stated.
The new allegations came on the same day the former chief financial office, Fred Anderson, immediately settled his case with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which filed backdating-related civil charges against Anderson and Apple’s former general counsel Nancy Heinen. The SEC did not charge any other individuals in the lawsuit and said it did not plan to pursue further action against Apple itself.
Apple’s board of directors, which includes former vice president Al Gore and Google Inc.’s chief executive Eric Schmidt, issued a statement Wednesday saying it would not enter a public debate with Anderson. It also defended the conclusion of Apple’s internal probe last year that cleared Jobs and current management of any wrongdoing.
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