Superlatives were in short supply for anyone looking for perspective on Apple’s financial results released Oct. 22. The consumer electronics company shattered records in its fiscal fourth quarter, and its forecast for the current period blew past Wall Street’s most optimistic predictions. One of the only questions left for analysts in the aftermath concerns what Apple will do for an encore.

For the most recent quarter, Apple (AAPL) reported $6.2 billion in sales, a fourth-quarter record, and finished the fiscal year with sales of $24 billion, beating by $4.5 billion its previous best for annual sales. Apple also reported profit of $904 million, or $1.01 a share. In extended trading, investors propelled the stock $11.99, or 6.9%. That left Apple’s share price north of $186 and brought it within spitting distance of the $200 price target set by many analysts.

Then Apple executives let loose with an even bigger surprise: Rather than give conservative guidance for this quarter—the period that includes the all-important holiday season—they reported expectations that were well ahead of the Wall Street consensus. Apple forecast fiscal first-quarter sales of $9.2 billion, compared with analysts’ forecasts for sales of $8.58 billion. Apple also said it expects per-share earnings of $1.42—3¢ higher than the consensus analyst estimate.

Click here to read the rest of the story…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 12:52 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.