Apple Earnings Shine With or Without Jobs (AAPL)

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) held up  better than many would have expected given the sad news that Steve Jobs is taking another medical leave of absence.  The Cult of Mac reported earnings of $6.43 EPS and $26.74 billion in revenues.  Thomson Reuters had estimates of $5.38 EPS and $24.38 billion in revenues.

iPad sales were 7.33 million and iPhone sales were 16.2 million units.  Mac sales were 4.13 million units.  The company generated $9.8 billion in cash flow from operations during the December quarter.  We went ahead and broke out Apple’s liquidity, and that figure is now just under $60 billion at $59.707 billion versus $51.011 billion just one quarter before.  We broke these out individually below:

Liquidity DEC.25.  SEP.25
CashEq $10.734 $11.261
ShrTrm $16.243 $14.359
LngTrm $32.730 $25.391

The company’s gross margin was 38.5% compared to 40.9% in the year-ago quarter.  The biggest number is that Apple said international sales accounted for some 62% of the quarter’s revenue.

As far as guidance, Apple called for revenue of about $22 billion and diluted earnings of about $4.90 EPS.  Estimates for the next quarter are $4.43 EPS and $20.62 billion in revenues.

Steve Jobs was quoted in the release calling Mac, iPhone and iPad sales a record; and he noted, “We are firing on all cylinders and we’ve got some exciting things in the pipeline for this year including iPhone 4 on Verizon which customers can’t wait to get their hands on.”

Apple shares closed down 2.25% at $340.65 after having been down as much as 5% earlier and after a $348.48 new all-time high on Friday.  Apple shares were halted in the after-hours right before the news, so this is unfinished business until tomorrow’s opening bell.  As of 5:00 PM EST in the after-hours, shares are trading at $347.30 but had briefly been over $350.00 at new all-time highs.

JON C. OGG