The computer and consumer electronics equipment manufacturer posted net income of $1.2 billion, or $1.38 per share, for its fiscal third quarter ended June 27, 2009, up 15 percent from $1.1 billion, or $1.19 per share, in the comparable fiscal 2008 quarter. Revenue rose to $8.4 billion up 12 percent and beating the consensus analysts' estimate of $7.4 billion.

Apple benefitted from strong sales of its iPhone wireless handset device and applications sold in its App Store as well as resilient demand for Macintosh computers, which notched a four percent increase in units sold from the year-ago quarter.

"We're making our most innovative products ever and our customers are responding," Steve Jobs, CEO at Apple, said in a statement. "We're thrilled to have sold over 5.2 million iPhones during the quarter and users have downloaded more than 1.5 billion applications from our App store in its first year."

The company forecasts sales for the ongoing quarter will be between $8.7 billion and $8.9 billion, slightly below analysts' average estimate of $9 billion. Earnings per share for the final quarter of the company's fiscal year will be "in the range of about $1.18 to $1.23,' according to Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer.

Apple is likely to beat its own September-quarter sales forecast, however, because the company has pushed out a huge chunk of revenue from the sale of its new iPhone 3GS, which began selling in June. "The amount of revenue and product cost related to those iPhone sales that the company deferred for recognition in future periods under subscription accounting was substantial," Apple said in a statement.

The company closed the recently ended quarter with about $8.5 billion in current deferred revenue, including $6.8 billion for iPhones and Apple TVs, compared with $5.5 billion of deferred revenue for the two products from the March quarter. Total deferred revenue rose to $12.1 billion compared with $10.5 billion in the prior quarter.

Apple's gross profit margin strengthened in the June quarter, rising to 36.3 percent from 34.8 percent in the comparable 2008 quarter. The company's operating margin was unchanged at approximately 16.2 percent despite large increases in the nominal values of its R&D as well as selling, general and administrative expenses.

The Cupertino, Calif., company closed the quarter with $24.2 billion in cash and short-term marketable securities, up from $22.1 billion as at the beginning of the fiscal year in September 2008.

By: DocMemory
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