Apple stock is riding high after the company announced financial results for its fiscal 2010 second quarter on Tuesday. Apple stock broke the NASDAQ trading record after it nearly doubled its profit in the quarter.
Apple’s stock has nearly doubled in the past year, making it the third most valuable company in the U.S. With the earnings announcement and the 6.3 percent rise (about $15 per share) in Apple stock, the company is gaining ground on rival Microsoft’s number-two position in the stock market.
“We’re thrilled to report our best non-holiday quarter ever, with revenues up 49 percent and profits up 90 percent,” said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. “We’ve launched our revolutionary new iPad and users are loving it, and we have several more extraordinary products in the pipeline for this year.”
The iPad Factor
The expected revenue from strong iPad sales hasn’t had time to impact Apple’s earnings, much less the other “extraordinary products” Jobs mentioned. The iPad went on sale on April 3, after the company’s fiscal second quarter ended. This suggests future quarters may be even brighter for the Mac maker and is causing analysts to recommend buying Apple stock.
Apple posted revenue of $13.5 billion and a net profit of $3.07 billion, or $3.33 per diluted share, for the quarter. That compares to revenue of $9.08 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.62 billion, or $1.79 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.
Apple’s gross margin was 41.7 percent, up from 39.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 58 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
Apple sold 2.94 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, representing a 33 percent increase over the year-ago quarter. The company also sold 8.75 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 131 percent growth from a year ago. Apple sold 10.89 million iPods during…