Apple's First Quarter Earnings Beat Consensus Estimate Once Again

Yesterday, Apple announced a profit of $63 million on revenue of over $2 billion for the first quarter of the 2004 fiscal year versus a loss of $8 million in the same quarter last year. Earnings were 17 cents per share as opposed to the 14-cent estimate that we noted on Monday.

Overall, the sales of Macs increased by 12% over the same quarter last year. PowerBooks and Power Macs were up significantly while iBooks were up slightly and iMacs were down significantly. iPods sales skyrocketed over 200% resulting in revenues of $256 million. The retail stores produced revenues of $273 million and finally an operating profit of $9 million. In regional sales, the improvement was greatest in Europe.

Here are further details in Apple's press release.