Apple Posts Record-Breaking Q1 Revenue, Earnings

Apple Inc. AAPL announced financial results Tuesday for its fiscal 2015 first quarter ended December 27, 2014.

The company posted record quarterly revenue of $74.6 billion, well above estimates of $67.69 billion and the $57.59 billion reported in the year-ago period.

Net profit was also a record at $18 billion, or $3.06 per diluted share, above estimates of $2.60 per diluted share and the $2.07 reported in the prior year period.

Gross margin was 39.9 percent compared to 37.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 65 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

iPhone unit sales of 74.5 million in the quarter also set a new record according to the company.

“We’d like to thank our customers for an incredible quarter, which saw demand for Apple products soar to an all-time high,” said Tim Cook, Apple’CEO. “Our revenue grew 30 percent over last year to $74.6 billion, and the execution by our teams to achieve these results was simply phenomenal.”

For its fiscal 2015 second quarter, the company expected revenue between $52 billion and $55 billion, a gross margin between 38.5 percent and 39.5 percent, operating expenses between $5.4 billion and $5.5 billion, other income of $350 million and a tax rate of 26.3 percent.

Apple traded at $114.75 in the after-hours session, up 5.14 percent.