Apple's Second-Quarter Net Soars to $290 Mln on IPod, Mac Sales
April 13 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Computer Inc., maker of the iPod digital music player, said second-quarter earnings soared more than six-fold as the devices propelled sales and helped win new customers for more-profitable Macintosh computers.
Net income surged to $290 million, or 34 cents a share, from $46 million, or 6 cents, a year earlier, Cupertino, California- based Apple said in a statement today. Sales rose 70 percent to $3.24 billion. The results topped Apple's forecast for profit of 20 cents on sales of $2.9 billion.
IPod shipments rose to 5.31 million players, and Apple sold 1.07 million Macs. Chief Executive Steve Jobs spurred consumer demand with the January release of the least-expensive Mac in the machine's 21-year history and a lower-priced iPod, a $99 version called shuffle that is helping woo first-time Mac buyers.
``The tremendous franchise value that the iPod is creating is exposing Apple to a much broader audience,'' Barry Jaruzelski, a technology analyst for consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. in New York, said before the report. ``The design, the ease of use, the hip factor -- this is opening a lot of people's eyes.''
Sales will rise to $3.25 billion and profit will be 28 cents a share this quarter, Apple said. Analysts expected 24 cents on sales of $3.24 billion, according to a Thomson Financial survey.
Apple shares fell $1.62 to $41.04 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. They have advanced 27 percent this year after tripling last year.
Bestseller
Analysts expected profit of 24 cents a share in the second quarter on sales of $3.21 billion, the average of 22 estimates in a Thomson Financial survey.
The iPod is the best-selling, hard-disk-based player in the U.S., capturing 85 percent of the market in the 12 months ended in February, according to Port Washington, New York-based researcher NPD Group Inc. Hewlett-Packard Co., which sells the iPod, took the No. 2 spot with 4.5 percent.
IPod sales benefited from the shuffle, the smallest and least expensive player in a lineup that includes eight models that sell for $99 to $449.
Apple sells two versions of the shuffle, each weighing less than an ounce and about the size of a pack of gum: the $99 model holds 120 songs, and a $149 version holds 240 tracks. Both models use less-costly flash memory technology, instead of hard-disk drives like other iPods.
Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Steve Milunovich expected Apple to sell 4.5 million iPods last quarter, including 1.5 million shuffles. Bill Shope of J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. anticipated 5.6 million units, including 2.5 million shuffles.
A redesigned iMac, which combines the computer and monitor in a single unit, buoyed sales in the past few quarters. To keep momentum going, Jobs in January released the $499 Mac mini, a book-sized PC that sells without a monitor, keyboard and mouse.
Apple also hopes to court customers with a new version of the Mac operating system software designed to make it easier for consumers to use. The company said yesterday that Mac OS X Version 10.4, codenamed ``Tiger,'' will go on sale April 29.
Grüße Max
|