Apple said last night quarterly profit soared 88 per cent on lower component costs and sales of MacBook laptops and iPod digital media players.
Net income for the fiscal second quarter jumped to $770 million, or 87 cents per share, from $410 million, or 47 cents per share. That beat by far Apple's own forecast, which tends to be cautious, of 54 cents to 56 cents, as well as the average analyst forecast of 63 cents according to Reuters Estimates.
Second-quarter revenue rose 21 per cent to $5.26 billion, Apple said, beating the average analyst forecast of $5.17 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.
Analysts were also impressed with Apple's gross margin, which rose to 35.1 per cent from 29.8 per cent a year ago.
Apple said this month it had sold its 100 millionth iPod in just over five years, capturing more than 70 per cent of the US digital music player market. Its iTunes music store, which also sells television shows and movies, has sold more than 2.5 billion songs since it opened.
Apple said it sold 1.52 million Macintosh computers and 10.5 million iPods in the March quarter, up 36 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively, from the year-ago period. The Mac growth rate is more than three times the industry's, as it was in the prior quarter.
The results came as Apple's board threw its support behind Chief Executive Steve Jobs; the company's former chief financial officer linked him to the handling of backdated stock options.