Apple Computer last night posted a 41 per cent increase in quarterly profit that beat Wall Street targets and said sales of its highly successful iPod digital music player topped 8.5 million.
Apple also issued a forecast that was below current expectations, but its shares rose nearly 5 per cent as analysts said that the company was being conservative, some investors were covering short positions and that its gross profit margin was strong.
Apple, the maker of Macintosh computers, said net income for its second fiscal quarter ended April 1 rose to $410 million, or 47 cents per share, from $290 million, or 34 cents per share, in the year ago period. Revenue rose 34 per cent to $4.36 billion from $3.24 billion.
Analysts had expected a net profit of 42 cents per share and a profit of 43 cents per share before items, on average, on revenue of $4.50 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.
Shares of Apple, which had fallen 57 cents to close at $65.65 in regular Nasdaq trade, rose 4.8 per cent to $68.80 in after hours trade following its earnings report.
For the current quarter, Apple said it expects earnings per share in a range of 39 cents to 43 cents on revenue of $4.2 billion to $4.4 billion.
Analysts currently expect earnings per share of 47 cents, on average, on revenue of $4.72 billion.
In addition to the 8.5 million iPods shipped in the quarter, a 61 per cent increase from a year-ago, Apple said it shipped 1.11 million Mac computers, a 4 per cent increase from the year-ago period.