Apple Reveals Strong Quarterly Earnings
Apple revealed another power financial result for the quarter ending April 1, 2006, with revenue topping $4.36 billion, a 34 percent jump over the year-ago period, and the second-highest quarterly result for the company. The three-month period also saw strong iPod sales and overall profits. Apple moved 8,526,000 iPods in the period, a 61 percent increase over the year-ago quarter. And earnings surpassed $410 million, a 41 percent rise. Meanwhile, Mac computer sales crossed 1,112,000 units, representing a 4 percent increase.
Despite the naysayers, Apple continued their sheer dominance in the portable MP3 player market, and total iPod sales are now comfortably past 50 million. Meanwhile, Steve Jobs highlighted an incredibly strong run over the past two quarters. “We’ve generated over $10 billion in revenue and almost $1 billion in earnings in the first half of fiscal 2006. Our transition to Intel processors is going very well, and our music business just experienced another quarter of outstanding growth,” Jobs stated. Looking forward, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer projected revenues of $4.2 to $4.4 billion for the current quarter, and earnings per share of between $.39 to $.43.
