Apple Crushes Estimates; Stock Jumps 7% After Hours

Apple AAPL released its highly anticipated fiscal Q2 earnings report after the closing bell on Tuesday. The stock had pulled back sharply in the weeks prior to the results, leading some market observers to speculate about a potential disappointment from the world's largest company. In typical Apple fashion, however, the tech giant crushed Wall Street estimates and is soaring in the wake of the Q2 report. The company reported net income of $11.62 billion or $12.30 per share, compared to $5.99 billion or $6.40 per share, in the year ago period. This easily surpassed Wall Street analysts' consensus EPS estimates of $10.06. Revenues for the quarter came in at $39.2 billion versus $24.7 billion in last year's second quarter. This also came in well ahead of analysts' consensus revenue estimates of $36.81 billion. Apple sold 35.1 million iPhones in the quarter which was an 88% increase over last year. iPad sales rose 151% to 11.8 million. Mac sales were up 7% to 4 million and iPod sales fell 15% to 7.7 million versus last year. Gross margin for the second quarter was 47.4%. Looking ahead to the fiscal third quarter, Apple said that it expects earnings per share of about $8.68 on revenues of roughly $34 billion. This compares to analysts' consensus EPS estimates of $9.93 on revenues of $37.40 billion for the third quarter. Despite the relatively light guidance, the stock has surged more than 7% to $601.86 in Tuesday's after hours trading session. Apple is notorious for its very conservative guidance, and Wall Street has become accustomed to the company ratcheting down forward looking expectations and then subsequently beating estimates by a huge margin.