Shares of Apple Computer (AAPL) surged more than 6% Thursday after the
company reported its best quarterly profit ever, with revenue up 75% as sales of
its iPod music player continue to surge.
Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) reported better-than-expected results,
too — getting the tech earnings season off to a good start. Shares of AMD rose
more than 3%.
Apple sold 6.2 million iPods in its third quarter, a 616% increase from a year
ago. Many Wall Street analysts had expected sales of about 5.5 million.
Quarterly revenue hit a record $3.5 billion. Net income reached a record $320
million, or 37 cents a share, up from $61 million, or 8 cents a share, a year
ago.
The strong results quashed fears that Apple's spectacular growth might be
slowing, especially in its music business.
The company's new operating system — Tiger — fueled computer sales. Apple sold
1.2 million Macintosh computers in the quarter, a 35% jump from a year ago.
Apple's momentum is strong, but that might change in the current quarter, says
equity analyst Steve Lidberg at Pacific Crest Securities.
Apple plans to put Intel processors, or computer "brains," into Macs beginning
next year. Macs now run on chips from IBM or Freescale Semiconductor.
