Apple Posts Record Revenue, Earnings

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Computers today reported the highest quarterly revenue and earnings in the company's history, posting a net third-quarter profit of US$320 million, or 37 cents per diluted share, and revenue of $3.52 billion.

"We are delighted to report Apple's best quarter ever in both revenue and earnings," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said. "The launch of Mac OS X Tiger has been a tremendous success , and we have more amazing new products in the pipeline."

Apple also projected more of the same for the fourth quarter, saying revenue should come in at about $3.5 billion and earnings at about 32 cents per share.

"We're very pleased to report 75 percent revenue growth and a 425 percent increase in net income," Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said.

The numbers beat Wall Street's expectation for $3.3 billion in sales .

Apple shipped 1,182,000 Macintosh units and 6,155,000 iPods during the quarter ended June 25, representing 35 percent growth in Mac sales and 616 percent growth in iPods sales over the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 39 percent of the quarter's revenue.

These record earnings compare to a net profit of $61 million, or $.08 per diluted share, and revenue of $2.01 billion in the year-ago quarter, and represent revenue growth of 75 percent and net profit growth of 425 percent. Gross margin was 29.7 percent, up from 27.8 percent in the year-ago quarter.