14 DAY TRIAL // Between the price drop on the iPhone, new iPod models and new iMac models, Apple was expected to have had a very good quarter and the conference announcements did not disappoint.
Apple's financial results for its fiscal 2007 fourth quarter ended September 29, were better than ever, setting new records. The company reported a net income of $1.01 per share with revenue of $6.22 billion and net quarterly profit of $904 million. In the year-ago quarter, the company saw revenue of $4.84 billion and net quarterly profit of $542 million, or $.62 per diluted share. Apple also saw a rise in its gross margin to 33.6 percent, up from 29.2 percent and 40 percent of the quarter's revenue being accounted for by international sales. Macs sold extremely well with 2,164,000 shipped, a solid 34 percent growth since last year and better than the previous record by 400,000 units. Over ten million iPods were also sold, representing a 17 percent increase over the year-ago quarter, while quarterly Phone sales were 1,119,000, bringing cumulative fiscal 2007 sales to 1,389,000.
"We are very pleased to have generated over $24 billion in revenue and $3.5 billion in net income in fiscal 2007," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We're looking forward to a strong December quarter as we enter the holiday season with Apple's best products ever."
"Apple ended the fiscal year with $15.4 billion in cash and no debt," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. "Looking ahead to the first quarter of fiscal 2008, we expect revenue of about $9.2 billion and earnings per diluted share of about $1.42."
With these results Apple's shares quickly rose to a new all-time closing high of 174.36 on volume of 43,699,397 shares, with a 52-week low of $76.77, set on December 27, 2006. Those predicting that Apple will pass IBM in terms of market cap will not have long to wait.