Apple 3Q Earnings Obliterate Estimates

Apple may have even surprised Apple with the company’s reported 3rd quarter revenue announced Tuesday after the close of trading on Wall Street. Blowing consensus estimates out of the water, Apple beat the street (which had forecast 3Q earnings of $14.75 billion) by posting earnings totaling $15.74 billion.

From CNBC:

Even Apple’s guidance is worth noting with Q4 Revenue guidance at $18 billion vs. $17.03 Street consensus. Q4 EPS guidance is $3.44 vs. $3.82 Street consensus. Apple revealed today, as expected, stellar sales across its vast iDevice product line. During the quarter that ended June 30th, Apple shipped 3.27 million iPads, 3.47 million Macs, and 9.4 million iPods. Q3 iPhone shipments, however, came in at 8.4 million – slightly below consensus estimates.

With regard to the controversy and customer fallout in the wake of "Antennagate," Apple largely seems unaffected by the recent wave of negative press and consumer criticisms. Looking ahead to the next quarter, Apple is presently forecasting $18 billion in revenue and $3.44 EPS. That’s a pretty bold and confident prediction, especially coming from a company that is known for presenting very, very tentative if not absurdly conservative estimates in order to blast them to bits when the cold hard data finally rolls in.

Shares of Apple exploded 4% in after-hours trading as soon as Cupertino announced the long-awaited 3Q earnings.

CNBC