Apple Computer on Wednesday reported a $472 million profit for the third fiscal quarter. With increased shipments of Macs and iPods, the company reported revenue of $4.37 billion.
Apple beat analyst’s earnings consensus for the quarter of $.44, posting a profit of $.54. The 2006 third-quarter numbers compare to $3.52 billion revenue and a net profit of $320 million in the year-ago quarter.
The company shipped 1,327,000 Macintosh computers and 8,111,000 iPods during the quarter, representing 12 percent growth in Macs and 32 percent growth in iPods over the year-ago quarter.
International sales accounted for 39 percent of the quarter’s revenue, according to Apple.
Looking ahead to the fourth-quarter, which ends September 6, 2006, Apple has forecast revenue of about $4.5 to $4.6 billion and earnings per diluted share of about $0.46 to $.48 — this includes an estimated $.03 per share expense impact from non-cash stock-based compensation, translating to non-GAAP EPS of about $.49 to $.51, according to Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer.
Analyst’s expectations for the fourth-quarter are higher than Apple’s predictions. Analyst’s polled for the quarter expected Apple to report revenue of $4.94 billion with a profit of $.52.
Apple also said it doesn’t expect any material adjustment to the financial results reported today because of the stock option irregularities the company is currently investigating.
Apple stock closed up $1.20 or 2.27 percent. In after hours trading the company has risen $4.12 or 7.62 percent to $58.22.
Update: Added more detailed information on Apple’s fiscal results.