Apple managed yet again to defy recessionary gravity and produced stunning results for its last quarter. The results plus the press conference lined up for later today, sets Apple up to be a continuing financial darling of Wall Street.
For the quarter Apple posted revenues of $15.7 billion, net profit of $3.4 billion, up from $11.9 billion and profits of $2.26 billion this time last year.
Apple sold 3.4 million Macs up 33% in unit terms but the highlight was the 8.7 million iPhones sold during the quarter, 100% up on a year ago, plus 21 million iPods, which were 8% down. The company generated 5.8 billion in cash during the quarter, but for the coming quarter said that it was only expecting between $11 billion and $11.4 billion in revenues. We’ll believe it when we see it.
‘If you annualize our quarterly revenue, it’s surprising that Apple is now a $50+ billion company,’ said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. ‘The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we’re really excited about.’
And that’s even true if you follow a $15 billion seasonally strong quarter with an $11 billion seasonally weaker one.