Apple earnings triple on demand for iPods

By May Wong
Associated Press

Saleswoman April Ackerman displays an iPod at an Apple store in Palo Alto, Calif. Sales of the portable digital music players are up more than 900 percent from last year. Associated Press

The Cupertino-based computer maker said yesterday its net income was $46 million, or 12 cents a share, for the three months ended March 27. In the year-ago quarter, Apple reported net income of $14 million, or 4 cents a share.

Sales were $1.91 billion, up 29 percent from $1.48 billion reported in the year-ago period.

Excluding a one-time after-tax restructuring charge of $7 million, the company's net profit for the quarter would have been $53 million, or 14 cents per share.

Analysts polled by Thomson First Call were expecting earnings of 10 cents per share on revenue of $1.8 billion.

"The iPod probably accounted for probably half of that (revenue) growth," Fred Anderson, Apple's chief financial officer, said.

Apple reported record sales of 807,000 iPods for the quarter, up more than 900 percent from the prior year, bringing the total to about 2.8 million since the gadget was introduced in 2001.

Extremely high demand for the iPod Mini, introduced in the United States in January, led Apple to delay the smaller model's international release to the end of July.

Anderson said Apple expects revenues for the third quarter to reach $1.93 billion, and earnings per share of 12 cents or 13 cents.

The company also expects to incur some restructuring charges due to its closure of manufacturing operations in Sacramento. Apple plans to move most of its California-based manufacturing activities to a supplier in Southern California.

Apple shares fell 29 cents to $26.64 on the Nasdaq Stock Market before the earnings were released. They rose $2.46, or more than 9 percent, in extended trading.