Apple Profits Quadruple As IPod Sales Soar 1/12/2005 5:30:00 PM
SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan 12, 2005 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Apple Computer Inc.'s first-quarter earnings more than quadrupled, dramatically exceeding Wall Street expectations, based on strong holiday sales of laptop computers and its wildly popular iPod music players. For the three months ended Dec. 25, Apple said it earned $295 million, or 70 cents per share. In the same period last year, the company earned $63 million, or 17 cents per share. Revenue for the quarter was $3.49 billion, up nearly 75 percent from $2 billion in the year-ago quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had projected earnings of 49 cents a share on revenue of $3.18 billion. "We came in quite a bit stronger than we guided, and I'd attribute that to the fantastic results of iPod," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's chief financial officer, said in a telephone interview. Apple announced Wednesday that it shipped a record 337,000 iBook laptops in the last quarter. It shipped 4.58 million iPods, a 525 percent boost from the holiday quarter of 2003. Before the earnings report, Apple shares climbed 90 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $65.46 in Wednesday afternoon trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. In after-hours trading, the shares jumped 11 percent to $72.60. The earnings came a day after Apple introduced a cut-rate computer the size of a paperback. The 40-gigabyte Mac mini will cost $499, an 80-gigabyte model $599. The units, which go on sale Jan. 22, mark Apple's most brazen attempt to woo entry-level technology shoppers away from computers that rely on the Microsoft Windows operating system. Apple has just a 3 percent share of the U.S. computer market, and company executives say they're aiming with the Mac mini to woo PC users who may have felt Apple products were too high-priced. The bare-bones minis are smaller than even some standalone external computer drives and do not come with monitors, mice or keyboards. Apple also introduced Tuesday the tiny iPod shuffle, which starts at $99 and seeks to maintain Apple's dominance in the portable music business. The shuffle is a flash memory-based digital music player, which is more durable and lightweight than other iPods, which use hard drives for storage. IPods have made Apple a Wall Street darling since their debut in 2001. In the past year, Apple stock has tripled on strong sales of the iPod, which is emerging as one of the 21st century's first cultural icons. Chief Executive Steve Jobs said Tuesday that Apple has sold more than 10 million iPods since October 2001. He said Apple holds 65 percent of the hard drive-based portable music player market but just under a third of the total market. Financial and industry analysts generally hailed the two relatively affordable new products and braced for scorching sales. In a research report issued Wednesday, Darcy Travlos of Caris & Co. called the new items "nothing short of brilliant." "New products will contribute positively to both revenue and margins," Travlos wrote. "Apple is in front of the curve." Jeff Slyn, Owner SLYN Systems & Peripherals (502) 426-5469 serving Kentuckiana clients 7 days a week since 1985! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.math.louisville.edu/pipermail/macgroup/attachments/20050112/406c9d13/attachment.html
