Apple posts record profit of $6.62 billion

Intel isn't the only tech firm to publish record results. Apple announced its fiscal fourth quarter results include the company's highest September quarter revenue and earnings ever. The Cupertino firm posted quarterly revenue of $28.27 billion and a net profit of $6.62 billion, which translates the $7.05 per diluted share. Wall Street analysts are disappointed however, as consensus centered on earnings of $7.31 per share on revenue of $29.60 billion.

The iPad is the company's rising star as sales hit 11.12 million, compared to 9.2 million during last quarter. Sales of the iPhone on the other hand are on the way back, they fell from just over 20 million to 17.1 million, but the company hopes to turn sales around with the launch of the iPhone 4S, which already raked in four million sales during its launch weekend.

Sales of the iPod continued to fall (from 7.5 million to 6.6 million units), while Apple's Mac lineup saw 4.9 million sales, almost a million more than last quarter.

Interestingly, Apple still hasn't figured out what to do with all its cash. The company now has a massive $81.6 billion cash in hand.

Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2011 fourth quarter ended September 24, 2011. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $28.27 billion and quarterly net profit of $6.62 billion, or $7.05 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $20.34 billion and net quarterly profit of $4.31 billion, or $4.64 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 40.3 percent compared to 36.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 63 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

The Company sold 17.07 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 21 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 11.12 million iPads during the quarter, a 166 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 4.89 million Macs during the quarter, a 26 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 6.62 million iPods, a 27 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

“We are thrilled with the very strong finish of an outstanding fiscal 2011, growing annual revenue to $108 billion and growing earnings to $26 billion,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Customer response to iPhone 4S has been fantastic, we have strong momentum going into the holiday season, and we remain really enthusiastic about our product pipeline.”

“We are extremely pleased with our record September quarter revenue and earnings and with cash generation of $5.4 billion during the quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2012, which will span 14 weeks rather than 13, we expect revenue of about $37 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $9.30.”