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SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Inc. reported today a 78 per cent surge in quarterly profit, boosted by strong holiday sales of iPod digital music players, and its shares leaped nearly 5 per cent in after-hours trade.
Apple, known for giving cautious forecasts, said it expects earnings per share in the current quarter of 54 cents to 56 cents and revenue of US$4.8 billion to US$4.9 billion.
"The guidance is pretty conservative, more so than what people were expecting," said American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu. "The iPod business is stronger than most people were expecting."
Analyst Shannon Cross of Cross Research said she was not concerned about what appeared to be a cautious forecast but was curious whether Apple's gross margin in the first quarter of 31.2 per cent was sustainable.
Apple said net income for its first fiscal quarter ended December 30 rose to US$1.004 billion, or US$1.14 per share, from US$565 million, or 65 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue rose to US$7.12 billion from US$5.75 billion.
Analysts had expected Apple to post adjusted net income of 78 cents per share, on average, on revenue of US$6.43 billion, according to Reuters Estimates. The results compared with Apple's own earlier forecast of earnings per share of 70 cents to 73 cents and revenue of US$6.0 billion to US$6.2 billion.
Apple is coming off its annual Macworld conference, where it generated more buzz than usual this year when Chief Executive Steve Jobs unveiled a much-anticipated multimedia device called the iPhone, which goes on sale for US$500 to US$600 in June.
Apple said it shipped 21.1 million iPods in the quarter and 1.61 million Macintosh computers, representing increases on the same quarter a year ago of 50 per cent and 28 per cent, respectively.
Sanford Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi had forecast Apple to ship 17.5 million iPods in the December quarter, which represents a 25 per cent increase from a year ago, and Mac unit shipments of 1.68 million, or a 34 per cent increase.
Analysts polled by Reuters Estimates on average expect second-quarter earnings of 60 cents per share on revenue of US$5.2 billion.
Shares of Cupertino, California-based Apple rose 18 per cent in 2006, after more than doubling in 2005 and tripling in 2004, propelled by strong sales of its line-up of iPods and a rejuvenated line of Macintosh desktop and notebook computers.
Shares of Apple rose to US$99.30 in after-hours trade. In regular trade, the stock fell US$2.15, or 2.2 per cent, to US$94.95 on Nasdaq.
- REUTERS
