Apple beats estimates, shares jump 6% after hours

Selling a higher than expected 35 million units of the Apple iPhone, Apple reported $12.30 a share in earnings for its fiscal second quarter crushing expectations of $10.04. The strong report sent Apple's shares up more than 6% in after-hours trading after the stock dropped over 2% during the regular trading session. Revenue for the quarter came in at $39.2 billion, ahead of analyst's estimates of  $36.85 billion.

For its third fiscal quarter ending in June, Apple called for revenue to drop to $34 billion and earnings per share to come in at $8.68. As usual, Apple is trying to downplay results as analysts are looking for Q2 revenue to come in at $37.4 billion and EPS at $9.95. Apple iPhone sales could slow down in this period as buyers wait for the next-generation model of the smartphone which will probably launch in October.

Besides beating estimates on iPhone sales, Apple sold 11.8 million units of its Apple iPad tablet, short of the 12-13 million tablets that Wall Street expected to be sold.

As of 4:45pm EDT, Apple shares were up over 6% to $598.

source: DowJones