iPad, iPhone Sales Drive Record Apple Revenue, Profits

Triple-digit increases in the number of iPads and iPhones sold in the third quarter compared to last year, combined with strong international sales, led Apple's growth for the quarter and caused a spike in after-hours share prices.

For its third fiscal quarter, which ended on June 25, Apple on Tuesday reported revenue of $28.6 billion, up 82 percent compared to the $15.7 billion the company reported during the third quarter of 2010.

Profit growth year-over-year was even higher. Apple reported profit for the third quarter of $7.3 billion, or $7.79 per share, up 121 percent compared to the $3.3 billion, or $3.51 per share, it reported last year.

Leading the growth spurt was a large increase in iPad, iPhone, and Mac sales. Apple reported selling 9.3 million iPads during the quarter, up 183 percent over last year; 20.3 million iPhones, up 142 percent; and 4.0 million Macs, up 14 percent. The only slip in terms of major product categories was in iPods, where sales of 7.6 million units represented a 20 percent drop compared to last year.

Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO, said in a statement that Apple's quarterly cash flow from operations hit $11.1 billion in the third quarter, up 131 percent over last year.

Oppenheimer also said that Apple expects revenue for the fourth fiscal quarter to reach about $25 billion, or up 23 percent from the $20.3 billion the company reported in the fourth quarter of 2010. He also estimated fourth quarter earnings per share to be about $5.50, up about 99 percent compared to the $2.77 per share Apple reported last year.

Oppenheimer, during the third-quarter analyst call, also said that Apple on Wednesday will launch its long-awaited next-generation operating system, the Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, on the Mac App Store, AppleInsider reported.

Apple's stock rose $3.05 to reach $376.85 per share on Tuesday before the company released its financial report. In after-hours trading, shares were up 5.4 percent to $397.18 about one hour after the release of the report. Shares briefly broke the $400 mark in after-hours trading.