Apple shares soar after stellar earnings

Jan 25, 2012, 16:59 GMT

San Francisco - Apple shares soared as much as 8 per cent Wednesday following the company's stellar earnings report, bringing its value to an all-time high of 419 billion dollars.

That means, for the second time in the last 12 months, Apple has overtaken Exxon Mobil's 416-billion-dollar value to claim the largest market capitalization of any US company.

Apple had previously held the top spot in September and October before disappointing earnings saw the stock sink 14 per cent later in the year.

But its fiscal first quarter earnings, released Tuesday after the close of markets, banished investors' blues. Apple sold a record 37 million iPhones in the fiscal first quarter and 15.4 million iPads as it posted record revenue of 46.33 billion dollars and record quarterly profit of 13 billion dollars.

Its iPhone sales represented a 128-per-cent increase over sales in the previous year's quarter, while sales of iPads rose 111 per cent. The revenue figure represented a 73-per-cent jump over the same period the year before, while profit rose by 118 per cent.

Apple also said that its Mac computers bucked the downward industry trend for computer sales, with sales rising 26 per cent to 5.2 million units. Apple said it now has close to 100 billion dollars in cash.

'This is even better than expected,' analyst Mike Walkley of Canaccord told Marketwatch. 'It's remarkable that the iPhone 4S with Siri created such a huge upgrade cycle.'

'We're thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs,' said Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive. 'Apple's momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline.' Analysts expect these to include a new iPad in March and a new iPhone later in the year.

The latest quarterly report marks the first reporting period to include the new iPhone 4S, which went on sale in October. It also marked the first full earnings period with Cook as chief executive. Company founder Steve Jobs stepped down from the job in the fourth quarter last year and died a few weeks later.