Apple Has Its Biggest Quarterly Profit Ever

Apple Inc. once again defied the gravity of high general unemployment and a marketplace where most cell phones are sold like commodities, reporting that its fiscal fourth quarter profit rose 47 percent. Financially speaking, those are some mad hops.

Not surprisingly, the company reported it sold more Macs and iPhones in the fourth quarter which ended Sept. 26 than in any prior quarter.

Thus, its revenue for the quarter was $9.87 billion with a net profit of $1.67 billion, or $1.82 per share. That made the fourth quarter the most profitable quarter in Apple's history.

The 2009 fourth quarter compared with revenue for the year-earlier quarter of $7.9 billion and net income of $1.14 billion, or $1.26 a share. International sales were almost half Apple's revenue for the quarter, 46 percent to be precise.

The company sold more than 3.0 million Macintosh computers for a 17 percent increase in the 2009 fourth quarter over the year-earlier's quarter.

It also sold 7.4 million iPhones during the quarter, 7 percent more than the comparable, year ago quarter.

But its iPod sales suffered an 8 percent from the prior year's fourth quarter, with the company selling 10.2 million of those units. Consumers were clearly trading in their iPods for the more versatile iPhones.

 

This from the company's press release:

"We are thrilled to have sold more Macs and iPhones than in any previous quarter," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We've got a very strong lineup for the holiday season and some really great new products in the pipeline for 2010."

"We are delighted with our September quarter and fiscal 2009 results," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. "For the full year, we grew revenue by 12 percent and net income by 18 percent in extraordinarily challenging times. Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue in the range of about $11.3 billion to $11.6 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about $1.70 to $1.78."