Apple earnings jump on strong iPhone sales

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Inc.
on Monday reported a fiscal first-quarter profit that surged 50 percent
from the same period a year ago as the tech-industry icon saw its
results driven by strong sales across all its main product lines,
especially the iPhone.

Apple said it earned $3.38 billion, or $3.67 a share, for the quarter ended Dec. 26. During the same period a year ago, Apple earned $2.26 billion, or $2.50 a share.

Revenue rose 32 percent to $15.68 billion.

The results topped the estimates of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who forecast Apple to earn $2.07 a share on $12.06 billion in revenue.

Apple said its results were helped by new accounting
practices that allow it to recognize all the revenue for sales of
iPhone and Apple TVs at the time those devices are sold.

Apple also said it sold 8.7 million iPhones, 3.36 million Macintosh computers and 21 million iPods during the quarter.

For its fiscal second-quarter, Apple estimates it will earn between $2.06 and $2.18 a share on revenue in a range of $11 billion to $11.4 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.77 a share on $10.4 billion in revenue, though it is unclear if the analyst forecast takes into account the accounting change.

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