Apple on Tuesday reported its fiscal second quarter results, which amounted to a giant face-palm for naysayers who've been giddily predicting an end to the company's string of stunningly solid financial results.
Apple's Q2 profit rose 93 percent to $11.6 billion, or $12.30 per diluted share, while revenue jumped 59 percent to $39.2 billion. Gross margin came in at 47.4 percent, representing a 15 percent gain from the last quarter. And Apple's sales outside the U.S. comprised 64 percent of its Q2 revenue.
Apple sold 35.1 million iPhones during the quarter, an 88 percent jump from last year's Q2 and a figure that easily surpassed Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of 31 million to 33 million devices sold.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based company sold 11.8 million iPads during the quarter, a 151 percent year-over-year increase, but a figure that did not exceed Wall Street's expectations.
Apple launched its third generation iPad last month, selling more than 3 million of the tablets in their first weekend on store shelves. Later this year, Apple is expected to launch its next iPhone, which will presumably be called iPhone 5.
Mac sales rose 7 percent year-over-year during Q2 to 4 million units, while iPod sales dipped 15 percent to 7.7 million units.
Apple blew Wall Street away last quarter with sales of 37 million iPhones and 15.43 million iPads, but the holiday quarter bump that those figures included had some analysts wondering if Apple was headed for an iOS sales slowdown.
These concerns, and worries over Qualcomm's difficulties in producing iPhone processors, have apparently weighed on investors' minds in recent weeks.
Apple shares had dropped more than 13 percent since hitting their all-time high water market of $644 on April 10, but the earnings report sent them zooming skyward again to 603.81 in Tuesday after hours trading.
