Apple obliterated analysts' estimates with its second quarter earnings on Tuesday, as reports of slowing iPhone sales appear to have missed the mark.
Apple announced revenue of $39.2 billion and earnings per share of $12.30. The street had projected revenue of $36.81 billion and EPS of $10.06. Compared to a year ago, revenue for the fiscal quarter ending March 31 was up 58 percent and profit up almost 100 percent.
The number that really has people going wild is the gross margin, which hit 47.4 percent this quarter.
That news already has the stock up more than seven percent in after-hours trading, surpassing the $600 mark yet again.
As for product sales, Apple sold 35.1 million iPhones in the quarter and 11.8 million iPads. The latter missed targets, but the former well exceeded what analysts had been projecting. After AT&T said its iPhone sales were slumping, some had been expecting the iPhone sales figures to disappoint.
Nope, sales were 88 percent over a year ago.
Also Read: Apple's Biggest Quarter Ever: 37M iPhones, 15M iPads, $46B in Revenue
"We're thrilled with sales of over 35 million iPhones and almost 12 million iPads in the March quarter," CEO Tim Cook said in a statement. "The new iPad is off to a great start, and across the year you're going to see a lot more of the kind of innovation that only Apple can deliver."
64 percent of the quarter's revenue came from international sales, which echoes what Cook has been saying about developing other markets, China in particular.
"It was an incredible quarter in China," Cook told analysts on the earnings call. He asid revenue from China for the first quarter of the 2012 fiscal year was $12.4 billion. Revneue from all of last year was just $0.9 billion higher at $13.3 billion.
"It is mind-boggling that we could do this well," Cook said of China, attributing it to pent-up demand for the iPhone 4S.
Its revenue prediction for the June quarter is lower than expected, however.
More to come with an earnings call set for 2 p.m. PT.