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Apple Q1 profit nearly doubles

25 April 2012 07:38 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA-Economics. Apple Inc. rose after reporting that robust demand for the iPhone in China fueled a 94 percent surge in quarterly profit, allaying the growth concerns that had sliced the companyâ€™s shares by 12 percent since April 9, BusinessWeek reported.

Net income in the fiscal second quarter climbed to $11.6 billion, or $12.30 a share, as sales rose 59 percent to $39.2 billion, Cupertino, California-based Apple reported yesterday. Analysts had predicted profit of $10.02 a share on revenue of $36.9 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Demand from Chinese consumers helped Apple sell a higher- than-predicted 35.1 million iPhones last quarter and made the worldâ€™s most populous country responsible for 20 percent of sales, up from 12 percent last year. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said there will be â€œa lot more opportunityâ€ in China as he introduces the iPad and expands operations there.

â€œThey are truly just beginning to grow in Asia, and China is possibly their most important market, where they just really started expanding,â€ said Michael Obuchowski, chief investment officer at First Empire Asset Management in Hauppauge, New York, which manages about $4.5 billion, including Apple shares. â€œFor Apple right now, the most important part of thinking about their business is the international growth.â€

Apple rose as much as 7.8 percent to $604.22 in extended trading (AAPL) yesterday, after having dipped 2 percent to $560.28 at the close in New York.

The company sold 11.8 million units of the iPad, which was updated last month to include a high-definition screen and faster processor. Apple has sold 67 million iPads since the deviceâ€™s 2010 debut. It took the company 24 years to reach that milestone with the Mac computer, Cook told analysts yesterday.