Apple Slides on Rare Earnings Miss

Shares of Apple APPL, the largest U.S. company by market capitalization, slid 6% in Tuesday's after-hours session after the company reported a fiscal third-quarter profit of $9.32 per share on revenue of $35 billion. The company said global sales represented 62 percent of revenue during the quarter. Analysts expected a profit of $10.36 a share on revenue of $37.2 billion. The California-based company forecast a profit of $8.68 a share on revenue of $34 billion when it delivered its fiscal second-quarter results in April. Apple sold 26 million iPhones in the most recent quarter, up from 20.34 million in the year-earlier quarter. Analysts expected iPhone sales of 25 million to 29 million for the third quarter. The company sold 17 million iPads during the quarter. Analysts expected iPad sales of 16 million to 20 million. Apple sold 6.8 million million iPods during the quarter, beating the estimate of 6.6 million units, but Mac sales were light at 4 million compared to the estimate of 4.3 million. Adding to pressure on the shares is Apple's slack fiscal fourth-quarter guidance. The company forecast a profit of $7.65 a share revenue of $34 billion, well below the profit of $10.27 a share on sales of $38 billion analysts are expecting. The stock was down almost $35, or nearly 6 percent, trading near $565.70 just after the report.