Apple today reported a $38 million profit or $.11 per diluted share, meeting analysts’ expectations surveyed by Thompson/First Call. These results compare to a net loss of $195 million, or $.58 per diluted share, in the year ago quarter. Revenues for the quarter were $1.38 billion, up 37 percent from the year ago quarter, and gross margins were 30.7 percent, compared to -2.1 percent in the year ago quarter.
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“Apple delivered a solid quarter and is one of the few companies making a profit in personal computers during these challenging times,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “During last quarter we continued our strategy of innovation. We launched the wildly popular iPod and sold more than 125,000 of them in two months. And we ended the year with 27 Apple retail stores that attracted over 800,000 visitors in the month of December alone.”
The results also included two non-recurring charges: a $24 million restructuring charge related to targeted reductions in the company’s operations, information systems and administrative functions, and a $23 million realized gain from equity investments. According to Apple these charges had a neutral impact on reported earnings per share.
“We’re pleased to have delivered healthy results while maintaining lean channel inventories in a very challenging environment,” said Fred Anderson, Apple’s CFO. “Our balance sheet remains very strong, with almost $4.4 billion in cash. We are targeting March quarter revenues to be up sequentially to about $1.5 billion and EPS to be approximately flat with the December quarter.”
Apple also indicated they shipped 746 thousand Macs during the quarter; this compares to 659 thousand Macs shipped in the year ago quarter.
Apple will be holding a conference call in less than an hour to discuss the results — MacCentral will bring you live coverage from the event.