Apple's (AAPL) Q4 Results... Wow!

October 19, 2009 5:27 PM EDT

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) did what many expected it couldn't - blow the door off of fourth quarter estimates. Apple reported Q4 EPS of $1.82, 40 cents better than the analyst estimate of $1.42. The EPS was so high it even killed the 'street high' EPS estimate of $1.72. Revenue for the quarter was $9.87 billion, which compared to the estimate of $9.20 billion.

"We are delighted with our September quarter and fiscal 2009 results," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. "For the full year, we grew revenue by 12 percent and net income by 18 percent in extraordinarily challenging times."

Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2010, Apple expect revenue in the range of about $11.3 billion to $11.6 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about $1.70 to $1.78. The guidance compares favorably to the consensus of $11.45 billion and $1.91, respectively.

In the third quarter, Apple increased its sale of Macintosh computers by 17% over the year-ago quarter by selling 3.05 million units. The iPhone also showed strong growth with a 7% increase over the year-ago quarter selling 7.4 million units.

"We are thrilled to have sold more Macs and iPhones than in any previous quarter," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We've got a very strong lineup for the holiday season and some really great new products in the pipeline for 2010."

The popular iPod music player saw a drop in sales for Apple, moving 10.2 units, an 8% decline from the year-ago quarter.

UPDATE: Click here to see some highlights from Apple's Q4 conference call.

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• Steve Jobs
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