Steve Jobs, chief executive officer of Apple Computer Inc.
REUTERS:
APPLE COMPUTER Inc.'s quarterly profit blew past the most optimistic Wall Street expectations, powered by strong sales, but its revenue forecast for the current quarter was below the more optimistic expectations and the stock fell.
Profit rose more than sixfold on sales of its iPod digital music players, the Mac mini personal computer and new PowerBook notebook PCs.
Shares initially rose 1.4 per cent in after-hours trade, but fell as the company's revenue forecast for the current quarter was largely in line with Wall Street expectations, rather than exceeding them.
MIXED RESULTS
"The third-quarter EPS guidance was better than the Street, but the revenue was slightly below some on the Street," said Sushil Wagle, senior vice-president of J&W Seligman, which owns Apple shares.
Apple, based in Cupertino, California, said yesterday that net income for its fiscal second quarter ended March 26 rose to US$290 million, or US34 cents per share, from $46 million, or US6 cents per share, on a split-adjusted basis.
Revenue surged 70 per cent to US$3.24 billion from $1.91 billion. Analysts on average had expected a profit of US24 cents a share, within a range of US21 cents to US30 cents, on revenue of US$3.19 billion, according to Reuters estimates. For the current third quarter, Apple forecast a profit of about US28 cents a share on revenue of US$3.25 billion. Analysts currently expect an average profit of US24 cents, within a range of US20 cents to US32 cents, on revenue of US$3.21 billion.
The company shipped 5.31 million iPods and 1.07 million Macintosh computers during the quarter.
Shares of Apple fell US$1.62, or 3.8 per cent, to close at US$41.04 in regular trading on Nasdaq. In after-hours trade on the Inet electronic brokerage, the stock rose to US$41.52 and then dipped to US$40.20. Apple shares have risen more than 30 per cent so far this year, after tripling in 2004.
