Edible Apple

Apple once again delivered incredible earnings that blew past Wall St. estimates. For the second quarter of 2011, Apple reported EPS of $6.40 on revenue of $23.34 billion. During the same quarter a year-ago, Apple reported earnings of $3.33 a share on revenue of $13.5 billion, representing an astounding 83% increase in revenue.

As for what analysts were expecting, the Wall. St. consensus anticipated earnings of $5.25/share on revenue of $23.82 billion.

Net profit for the quarter came in at $5.9 billion compared to $3.07 billion during the year-ago quarter. That’s a 95% jump in profitability. Note, and this no small thing, that Apple’s profits are increasing at a faster clip than its revenue.

Unbelievable.

Notably, International sales accounted for 59 percent of Apple’s Q2 revenue.

And just to highlight how significantly Apple’s earning potential has increased, during the Q2 of 2009, Apple’s EPS checked in at $1.79 a share on revenue of $8.2 billion.

Make no mistake about it, Apple is a money making machine, a fact attributed to impressively high iPhone and iPad sales and margins that are the envy of the industry.

“With quarterly revenue growth of 83 percent and profit growth of 95 percent, we’re firing on all cylinders,” Steve Jobs said in a press release. “We will continue to innovate on all fronts throughout the remainder of the year.”

Since launching a few weeks ago, the iPad 2 has been selling like hot cakes. Apple, though, has curiously remained mum about how many devices they’ve actually sold, until now. The Wall St. consensus was that Apple sold 6.3 million iPad units during the quarter gone by, slightly below the 7.33 million units Apple sold during the always busy December quarter of 2010.

The reality was a little bit more surprising. During the quarter gone by, Apple recorded 4.69 million iPads, a lower than expected figure perhaps due to constrained supply. Note, though, that Apple explained during its earnings conference call that it sold every iPad 2 it manufactured during the quarter.

iPhone sales measured during the quarter came in at 18.7 million units, representing 113 percent growth from the same quarter a year-ago when Apple sold 8.75 million iPhones. Note that this was the first quarter that the iPhone was available on Verizon, and while the impact of a new carrier here in the US still remains to be seen, it can only help the number of devices Apple is able to push out the door. From Q2 2009 to Q2 2010, iPhone sales increased by 133%.

Regarding iPhone sales, analysts expected iPhone sales to come in at 16.25 million units.

With respect to Macs, Apple sold 3.76 million units compared to 2.94 million units during the second quarter of 2010, representing a 28% increase from the same quarter a year-ago. Analysts were expecting Mac sales of 3.6 million Macs, a figure Apple was able to top thanks to stronger than expected MacBook Air and MacBook Pro sales

Apple’s full press release can be viewed after the break.

CUPERTINO, California—April 20, 2011—Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2011 second quarter ended March 26, 2011. The Company posted record second quarter revenue of $24.67 billion and record second quarter net profit of $5.99 billion, or $6.40 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $13.50 billion and net quarterly profit of $3.07 billion, or $3.33 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 41.4 percent compared to 41.7 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 59 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple sold 3.76 million Macs during the quarter, a 28 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 18.65 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 113 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.02 million iPods during the quarter, representing a 17 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. The Company also sold 4.69 million iPads during the quarter.

“With quarterly revenue growth of 83 percent and profit growth of 95 percent, we’re firing on all cylinders,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We will continue to innovate on all fronts throughout the remainder of the year.”

“We are extremely pleased with our record March quarter revenue and earnings and cash flow from operations of over $6.2 billion,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the third fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $23 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $5.03.”