Apple Shares Surge After Q2 Earnings Beat, Strong Guidance

Apple Inc. APPL shares are rising after a second-quarter earnings beat.

Earnings came in at $2.46 per share, beating estimates by 10 cents. Sales came in at $58 billion, beating estimates by $560 million.

The company issued strong third-quarter sales guidance of $52.5 billion-$54.5 billion; Estimates called for $51.9 billion.

"Our March quarter results show the continued strength of our installed base of over 1.4 billion active devices, as we set an all-time record for Services, and the strong momentum of our Wearables, Home and Accessories category, which set a new March quarter record," said CEO Tim Cook.

"We delivered our strongest iPad growth in six years, and we are as excited as ever about our pipeline of innovative hardware, software and services. We're looking forward to sharing more with developers and customers at Apple's 30th annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June."

Other Highlights

• Quarterly dividend raised from 73 cents to 77 cents per share
• Apple sees third-quarter gross margin of 37-38 percent
• 1.4 billion active devices
• International sales accounted for 61 percent of revenue

Apple's stock is up 4.2 percent in after-hours trading at $209.20 per share. The stock closed at $200.67.

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