Apple earnings surge in first fiscal quarter

Apple Inc. reported Tuesday blowout earnings growth for the December quarter as strong holiday sales of the iPhone and iPad drove the company’s results for the period.

The report came a day after Apple disclosed that CEO Steve Jobs would be going on another medical leave — this time for an undetermined period. Shares of Apple slipped about 2.3 percent during Tuesday’s regular session.

The company also parted with its customarily conservative forecast with an outlook for the March quarter that was also well ahead of Wall Street’s estimates.

For the first fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31, Apple reported net income of $6 billion, or $6.43 per share, compared with net income of $3.38 billion or $3.67 per share for the same period the previous year.

Revenue jumped more than 70 percent to $26.74 billion.

Analysts were expecting earnings of $5.42 per share on revenue of $24.4 billion, according to FactSet Research.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company said it sold 16.24 million iPhones for the quarter. On average, analysts were expecting iPhone sales around 15.9 million units. About 7.3 million iPads shipped during the period compared with estimates calling for about 6.3 million units shipped.

About 4.1 million desktop and Macbook laptops were sold during the quarter, in line with analysts’ forecasts.

For the current quarter, Apple said it expects revenue of $22 billion with earnings per share of $4.90. Analysts had been expecting revenue of $20.9 billion with earnings of $4.48 per share for the period.

To read more, go to MarketWatch.com.