Fourth Quarter Outstanding for Apple

In an announcement released on Wednesday, October 18 Apple Computer Inc. reported a fourth fiscal quarter profit increase of 27 percent with the company's net income reaching $546 million, up from $430 million last year. Apple's revenue rose to $4.84 billion, an increase of 32 percent.

Industry pundits point to the strong sale of iPod music players and Macintosh computers as being responsible for the reported earnings numbers that were well above projected estimates. In response to the positive reports, shares in Apple climbed some six percent in extended trade. In regular trading the shares reached $74.53 but rose to $79.20 in composite trade after the announcement.

Whereas analysts had expected an earnings announcement of 51 cents on revenue of $4.67 billion, the actual 62 cents on $4.84 billion came as a welcome surprise. The company itself had only anticipated 46 to 48 cents a share on $4.5 to $4.6 billion.

Apple shipped 8.73 million iPods in the fourth quarter, an increase of 35 percent from a year ago maintaining the company's leadership position in the digital music player market. In addition the company converted its entire line of Mac computers to Intel processors and launched a movie download service through its popular iTunes store in September, a move that coincided with a series of announced iPod upgrades.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs, in a statement released by the company said, "Looking forward, 2007 is likely to be one of the most exciting new product years in Apple's history."