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Apple is back to wowing Wall Street.
The maker of iPhones, iPads and other hot tech gadgets posted another quarter of records yesterday, and unlike last quarter, the numbers didn’t disappoint analysts’ lofty expectations.
Apple surpassed all quarterly records for iPhone, iPad and Mac sales in its first fiscal quarter this year, and generated $46.33 billion in revenue and $13.06 billion profits, all blowing away Wall Street’s measurements.
Apple CEO Tim Cook, in his first full three-month period atop the tech giant, attributed the robust quarter to “breathtaking customer reception of the iPhone 4S,” which launched last quarter.
There were more than 37 million iPhones, including older, less-expensive models, sold in the three months ended Dec. 31. Wall Street had forecast closer to 30 million would sell.
Even with Amazon launching a credible tablet threat with its Kindle Fire — priced at $200, compared to iPad’s lowest price of $500 — Apple sold 15.43 million iPads, up a staggering 111 percent from a year earlier.
“The ecosystem for the iPad is in a class by itself,” the CEO, nicknamed Tim “Cooks” in the blogoshere, boasted, taking a swipe at rivals. “I don’t really see these limited function tablets and e-readers being in the same category.”
Wall Street had been trying to gauge how much business Amazon’s Kindle Fire would pry from Apple — analyst Colin Gillis estimated yesterday the Kindle Fire stole roughly 1 million potential iPad customers last quarter.
The holiday performance in other areas was equally impressive. For example:
* Apple also sold 5.26 million Mac computers last quarter, up 26 percent from the prior year.
* Sales of iPods, which first went on sale 10 years ago last October, fell 21 percent to 15.4 units.
* Gross margins in the period, which was Apple’s fiscal first quarter, plumped to 44.7 percent from 40.8 percent.
* Apple’s net profit more than doubled to $13.1 billion, or $13.87 a share — topping the $10.14 forecast of the Street and marking the first time its quarterly profit topped that of rival Hewlett-Packard. Overall sales rose 73 percent to $46.3 billion
The company’s performance stood in sharp contrast to the results in the prior quarter, when it missed Wall Street’s mark for the first time in years.
After that miss, Apple shares took an immediate hit, unlike yesterday, when shares took off on the earnings report.
The strong results, released after the markets’ close, sparked a 7 percent jump after-hours in Apple shares — to $451.08, ahead of the tech titan’s all-time high closing price.
On top of the continued strong performance, Apple’s cash hoard also grew to near $100 billion.
The company continued to tease shareholders yesterday, saying it was actively exploring options for using the money.
Since taking over for the late Steve Jobs last year, Cook has been more willing to discuss the cash situation than his predecessor, who often looked at dividends as a sign of weakness. Cook has said he does not share the same concerns.
Still, in the call yesterday, Apple executives discussed using the money to enhance its supply-chain advantages and potential acquisitions, before mentioning the seemingly remote possibility of a dividend or buyback.