Apple (AAPL) Earnings By the Numbers

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Unless your iPhone has been in a coma the last couple days, by now you know that Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) had blowout first-quarter earnings. Net income for the three-month period ended December 31 was $13.1 billion, more than double the $6 billion haul the company pulled in during the same quarter a year ago.

News of the monster quarter has done wonders for the stock, sending it up 6% to $445.10 a share since Tuesday night’s earnings announcement.

But to fully appreciate just how impressive Apple’s 2011-12 first quarter was, we need to dig deeper into the numbers:

  • The company sold 37 million iPhones, a 128% year-over-year improvement in unit growth.
  • The company sold 15.43 million iPads, a 111% year-over-year improvement.
  • Apple did $46.33 billion in quarterly revenue – up 73% from a year ago, and a new record.
  • The $13.1 billion in earnings was the second most profitable quarter by any company in history. Only ExxonMobil’s (NYSE: XOM) $14.8 billion third-quarter profits in 2008 topped it – and that was when the price of oil was $147 a barrel.
  • Apple’s profits of $13.6 billion exceeded Google’s (Nasdaq: GOOG) entire revenue ($10.6 billion).
  • Apple’s $416 billion market capitalization would make it the 29th largest nation in the world.
  • Apple’s $97.6 billion in cash is higher than the market value all but 52 publicly traded companies, according to the Wall Street Journal.
  • Apple’s gross margin is 44.7%, up from 38.5% during the same time a year ago.
  • Perhaps best of all, Apple is predicting $32.5 billion in revenue this quarter, or $8.50 a share – ahead of analysts’ previous forecasts of $32.1 billion and $8.04 a share.

Who said Apple was too big to grow?

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