Apple posts strong fiscal Q4 results while missing some analyst targets

Apple posted a sharp rise in its third-quarter revenues to US$28.27 billion compared to US$20.34 billion a year ago. Profits also rose, to US$6.62 billion compared to US$4.31 billion a year ago, but were lower than industry analysts had expected.

Gross margin was 40.3 per cent compared to 36.9 per cent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 63 per cent of the quarter’s revenue.

The company sold 17.07 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 21 per cent unit growth over the year-ago quarter – but again below the 20 million expected by analysts. The missed target being explained by the delays in rolling out the iPhone 4S.

Apple sold 11.12 million iPads during the quarter, a 166 per cent unit increase over the year-ago quarter.

The company sold 4.89 million Macs during the quarter, a 26 per cent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 6.62 million iPods, a 27 per cent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

"We are thrilled with the very strong finish of an outstanding fiscal 2011, growing annual revenue to US$108 billion and growing earnings to US$26 billion," said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. "Customer response to iPhone 4S has been fantastic, we have strong momentum going into the holiday season, and we remain really enthusiastic about our product pipeline."