Apple reported record-breaking quarterly earnings on Tuesday — posting revenue of $26.74 billion and a net profit of $6 billion and crushing Wall Street estimates — a day after its chief executive, Steve Jobs, told employees he would be taking another medical leave of absence.
The company said revenue jumped 71 percent during the fiscal first quarter, while its profit soared more than 80 percent.
Apple said it sold more Macs (4.13 million, up 23 percent) and iPhones (16.24 million, up 86 percent) than any quarter in its history. Apple sold 19.45 million iPods (down seven percent); and 7.33 million iPads — a figure that won't have a year-over-year comparison until later this spring. (The company did note that iPads aleady account for 7 percent of the global PC market.)
The company said iTunes revenue was over $1.1 billion during the quarter, buoyed by its catalog agreement with the Beatles and users who Apple said are buying (or renting) roughly 400,000 episodes of TV shows and 150,000 movies per day.
The company did not disclose unit sales for its Apple TV.
“We had a phenomenal holiday quarter with record Mac, iPhone and iPad sales,” Jobs said in a statement. “We are firing on all cylinders and we’ve got some exciting things in the pipeline for this year including iPhone 4 on Verizon which customers can’t wait to get their hands on.”
Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said during a conference call Tuesday that he expects Apple's second quarter revenue to be about $22 billion — another astounding figure, considering Apple posted about $13 billion in revenue during the same quarter in 2010.
On Monday, Jobs told employees would take his second leave in as many years. Jobs underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer in 2003. He last took leave in January 2009, saying the illness was "more complex" than first thought.
On Tuesday, Apple executives made no mention of Jobs' health during the call.
Apple stock, which began the day down 5 percent on news of Jobs' leave, shot up 4 percent in after-hours trading.
Read Apple's full press release:
CUPERTINO, Calif. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2011 first quarter ended December 25, 2010. The Company posted record revenue of $26.74 billion and record net quarterly profit of $6 billion, or $6.43 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $15.68 billion and net quarterly profit of $3.38 billion, or $3.67 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 38.5 percent compared to 40.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 62 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
Apple sold 4.13 million Macs during the quarter, a 23 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 16.24 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 86 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 19.45 million iPods during the quarter, representing a seven percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. The Company also sold 7.33 million iPads during the quarter.
“We had a phenomenal holiday quarter with record Mac, iPhone and iPad sales,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We are firing on all cylinders and we’ve got some exciting things in the pipeline for this year including iPhone 4 on Verizon which customers can’t wait to get their hands on.”
“We couldn’t be happier with the performance of our business, generating $9.8 billion in cash flow from operations during the December quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $22 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $4.90.”
Apple will provide live streaming of its Q1 2011 financial results conference call beginning at 2:00 p.m. PST on January 18, 2011 at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq111. This webcast will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter.
