Apple revenue beats estimates, Q2 outlook disappoints

Apple announced first-quarter net earnings of $1.58 billion, or $1.76 a share. That's more than half more than the $1 billion the firm earned during the year earlier and it beats expectations from analysts by 14 cents.

The firm reported a $9.61 billion revenue for the three months ended December 29, significantly more than last year's $7.12 billion. Apple managed to increase its gross margin from 31.2% to 34.7% and disclosed some figures on the sales of its products. During last quarter the firm sold 2.32 million Mac systems, 22.1 million iPods and 2.32 million iPhones. iPod sales were up 5% while Mac sales were up by an impressive 44%.

Apple said it expects second quarter revenue of $6.8 billion with earnings of 94 cents per share. That's significantly less than Wall Street's predictions of a $7 billion revenue with $1.08 per share earnings. Due to the disappointing outlook Apple's stock dropped more than 12% in after-hours trading.