Apple returns to form, blows Street targets away

Apple Inc’s quarterly results blew past Wall Street’s expectations after U.S. consumers snapped up near-unprecedented numbers of iPhones and iPads, sending its shares up 8 per cent into record territory.
The world’s most valuable technology corporation returned to form after a rare miss in the previous quarter, assuaging investors’ worries that its sheer size meant it was headed into a period of slower growth.
It sold 37.04 million iPhones – its flagship product – and 15.43 million iPad tablets, doubling from a year earlier and easily outpacing already heightened expectations for a strong holiday season. That helped swell its warchest of cash and securities to almost $100 billion – more than enough to plug December’s U.S. budget deficit and level with California’s 2012/13 spending plan.
The company founded by late Silicon Valley titan Steve Jobs – who died in October after a years-long battle with cancer – smashed estimates on all its results including gross margin, which came in at 44.7 per cent during the quarter.
Apple reported a net profit of $13.06 billion, or $13.87 a share, handily outstripping an average Street forecast of $10.16 per share. The beat alone – by more than $3 a share, or $3.5 billion – would be a respectable sales figure for many smaller tech companies.
Going into 2012, I expect strength of iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad should carry on into the year. Apple still has some tailwind, including opening up new retail stores and expanding its distribution channels, said Hendi Susanto at Gabelli & Co.
… contd.