Apple soars past first-quarter earnings expectations

From CNET News.com: Apple reported first-quarter earnings significantly higher than analysts had expected coming off a disappointing holiday season for most tech companies, but provided its usual conservative guidance.

For the three-month period ended December 27, Apple recorded $10.2 billion in revenue, as compared with $9.6 billion a year ago, and net income of $1.6 billion, as compared with $1.58 billion a year ago. That translates into earnings per share of $1.78, far more than the $1.39 in earnings per share that analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected. Expected revenue was $9.75 billion.

On a conference call following the release of the numbers, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer noted that Apple passed $10 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time and recorded its highest net income ever. Gross margins also increased thanks to favorable prices for commodities like DRAM, flash memory, and LCD displays, he said.

Analysts wasted little time inquiring about the health of CEO Steve Jobs, who is on medical leave until the end of June to recuperate from what he described as health-related issues "more complex than I originally thought." Without replying directly to the question, COO Tim Cook, who is running the company in Jobs' absence, plunged into a monologue on Apple's culture doesn't "(settle) for anything less than excellence" and that "regardless of who is in what role, those values are so embedded in the culture of this company that Apple will do extremely well."

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