Apple (AAPL), the world’s largest company by market cap and recent investor darling, reported great earnings just a few minutes ago. The company saw profits come in at $12.30/share well above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $10.03/share, pushing the stock up over 7.2% immediately after the release.

This solid beat comes after some were beginning to grow worried over the firm and its impressive growth trajectory. Concerns were building over the recent price slump and anxiety over a possible decline in subsidies from telecom giants AT&T and Verizon for the iPhone.

However, these worries were easily dispelled after the company’s release as AAPL once again crushed lofty expectations for growth in many of its key products.

Some of the key stats:

  • Revenues come in at $39.19 billion compared to the Zacks Consensus of $36.58 billion
  • iPhone sales up 88% to 35.1 million units
  • iPad sales up 151% to 11.8 million units
  • Gross margin rose 600 basis points to 47.4%
  • International sales made up 64% of total revenue

While the huge beat may have come as a surprise to some, those who have been following the earnings estimate trend in AAPL probably aren’t too surprised as analysts have generally been quite bullish on the tech giant.

The company has seen earnings estimates rise almost universally over the past month with seven analysts raising their estimates in the past seven days and 13 raising their estimates in the past 30 days. Meanwhile, on the downside, only one analyst bumped their target lower out of the 33 estimates that are in the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

Furthermore, the magnitude of the move in estimates has also been impressive in Apple over the past quarter. Just a month ago the Zacks Consensus Estimate called for earnings of $9.76/share while the 90 days ago number was at $9.13/share. Given these figures, estimates have moved up by about 9% over the course of the quarter including a nearly 2.7% increase in the past 30 day period.

Clearly analysts were expecting another robust report and AAPL delivered once again.

(The Zacks Rank currently has AAPL as a 1 or Strong Buy)

What do you think about Apple’s beat? Can the company keep up this torrid pace of growth?

Let us know in the comments below!

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