Apple on Tuesday reported earnings for the third quarter of fiscal 2011. Shares of Apple Tuesday were trading at near-record levels as investors expected Apple to post its biggest June quarterly earnings ever, and the company didn’t disappoint. Wall Street was predicting revenue of $24.92b, a whopping 58% YoY increase, and Apple’s revenue for the June quarter came in at a mind-blowing $28.57b. Analysts predicted 16.5 million iPhones, 4.2 million Macs, and 7.8 million iPads with actual sales coming in at 20.34m iPhones, 9.25m iPads, and 3.95m Macs. Press release is after the break:

Apple Reports Third Quarter Results
All-Time Record Revenue and Earnings

iPhone Sales Grow 142 Percent; iPad Sales Grow 183 Percent

CUPERTINO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2011 third quarter ended June 25, 2011. The Company posted record quarterly revenue of $28.57 billion and record quarterly net profit of $7.31 billion, or $7.79 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $15.70 billion and net quarterly profit of $3.25 billion, or $3.51 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 41.7 percent compared to 39.1 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 62 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

“Right now, we’re very focused and excited about bringing iOS 5 and iCloud to our users this fall.”

The Company sold 20.34 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 142 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.25 million iPads during the quarter, a 183 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 3.95 million Macs during the quarter, a 14 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 7.54 million iPods, a 20 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

“We’re thrilled to deliver our best quarter ever, with revenue up 82 percent and profits up 125 percent,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Right now, we’re very focused and excited about bringing iOS 5 and iCloud to our users this fall.”

“We are extremely pleased with our performance which drove quarterly cash flow from operations of $11.1 billion, an increase of 131 percent year-over-year,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $25 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $5.50.”

Apple will provide live streaming of its Q3 2011 financial results conference call beginning at 2:00 p.m. PDT on July 19, 2011 at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq311. This webcast will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter.

This press release contains forward-looking statements including without limitation those about the Company’s estimated revenue and earnings per share. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ. Risks and uncertainties include without limitation the effect of competitive and economic factors, and the Company’s reaction to those factors, on consumer and business buying decisions with respect to the Company’s products; continued competitive pressures in the marketplace; the ability of the Company to deliver to the marketplace and stimulate customer demand for new programs, products, and technological innovations on a timely basis; the effect that product introductions and transitions, changes in product pricing or mix, and/or increases in component costs could have on the Company’s gross margin; the inventory risk associated with the Company’s need to order or commit to order product components in advance of customer orders; the continued availability on acceptable terms, or at all, of certain components and services essential to the Company’s business currently obtained by the Company from sole or limited sources; the effect that the Company’s dependency on manufacturing and logistics services provided by third parties may have on the quality, quantity or cost of products manufactured or services rendered; risks associated with the Company’s international operations; the Company’s reliance on third-party intellectual property and digital content; the potential impact of a finding that the Company has infringed on the intellectual property rights of others; the Company’s dependency on the performance of distributors, carriers and other resellers of the Company’s products; the effect that product and service quality problems could have on the Company’s sales and operating profits; the continued service and availability of key executives and employees; war, terrorism, public health issues, natural disasters, and other circumstances that could disrupt supply, delivery, or demand of products; and unfavorable results of other legal proceedings. More information on potential factors that could affect the Company’s financial results is included from time to time in the “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of the Company’s public reports filed with the SEC, including the Company’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 25, 2010, its Forms 10-Q for the quarters ended December 25, 2010 and March 26, 2011, and its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 25, 2011 to be filed with the SEC. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements or information, which speak as of their respective dates.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple’s PR website (www.apple.com/pr), or call Apple’s Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042.

© 2011 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Earlier this week, Forbes writer Philip Elmer-Dewitt collected third-quarter iPad sales estimates from some 39 different analysts — both amateur and professional — and laid out the tale of the tape ahead of Apple’s earnings report next week. On Wednesday, Dewitt collected third-quarter iPhone sales estimates from the same 39 analysts. Estimates range from the 15 million iPhones Needham’s Charlie Wolf predicted late last month to a record 20.25 million units suggested by Traderhood’s Nicolae Mihalache. The analysts’ calls average out to 16.9 million units, which would be just over double Apple’s iPhone sales in the same quarter a year prior. Apple sold a record 18.65 million iPhones in the second fiscal quarter of this year, and the company’s iPhone business brought in $12.3 billion in revenue.

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Wall Street analysts are beginning to reevaluate their yearly iPad forecasts for Apple, Inc. Previous prognostications from the financial sector had the Cupertino-based company selling somewhere between 40 million and 50 million iPads during 2011. After Apple’s Q1 earnings call last week — where the company sold far fewer iPads than expected — the aforementioned analysts have started to reevaluate their estimates. “They are going to have comparison issues on the growth side,” said Michael Walker, a portfolio manager at WP Stewart speaking to Reuters. “They can’t grow 83 percent forever. There’s no way.” Firm Merrill Lynch is expecting Apple to sell just north of 26 million iPads during 2011, while IHS Suppli is expecting the company to move 39.6 million tablets during the same time period.

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The proverbial — and literal — stock of Apple, Inc. is sky high at the moment, which could be clouding the better judgement of some analysts. And this next prediction may fall into that category: 45 million iPads to be sold in 2011. The prognostication comes courtesy of intel acquired by Ticonderoga Securities from various component suppliers in China and Taiwan. ”During our visit to Asia last fall, we indicated that our checks were pointing to expectations for up to 45 million iPad unit sales by Apple,” writes Brian White, an analyst with Ticonderoga. “At the time, this number was difficult for many investors and some in the media to get their heads around. However, this week’s meetings are again pointing to expectations for iPad unit sales of 40 million to 45 million units in CY11, well above our estimate of 30.9 million.” Digital Daily‘s John Paczkowski writes that the estimates do seem “a tad optimistic,” and notes that we should have a better gauge on 2011 iPad sales next week when the company reports its second-quarter earnings.

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Some analysts could soon find themselves in hot water as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation into the legality of “channel checks.” Channel checks refer to the practice whereby analysts contact inside sources at manufacturing companies in order to glean inside information. This information often has a tendency to move the market, of course, but the SEC is now trying to determine whether or not the practice should be legal. “Insider trading basically comes down to where you know or ought to know that the person from whom you’re getting this information has a duty to someone else to keep it confidential,” former SEC commissioner Paul Atkins told The Wall Street Journal. “If you go in and pay the mail clerk to give you special information, that’s not proper.” Beyond just the analysts involved, the SEC is also investigating “expert networks,” which get paid to connect investors with inside sources.

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Right before Q2 earning go live, Deutsche Bank has knighted Sprint with the coveted “buy” rating. DB noted that they “expect Sprint’s 2Q results to highlight continued improvements in its post paid ops,” which prompted Deutsche Bank to reduced their estimate for post-paid net losses from 500,000 to 400,000 for the quarter. The firms analysts credit strong sales of the HTC EVO 4G — the first 3G/4G hybrid smartphone — for Sprint’s lower churn rate (2.05%) and 42% year-over-year growth in post-paid customer additions (gross). Sprint is scheduled to announce earnings for Q2 2010 on Wednesday July 28th.

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Analysts are contributing in tandem to the rumor mill today by proclaiming the inevitability of a Verizon Wireless-branded iPhone. First is Ben Reitzes of Barclays Capital, who says a Verizon Wireless iPhone could enter production in Q4 2010 and land in the first calendar quarter of 2011. Reitzes estimates that Verizon could sell as many as 9 million iPhones next year and anticipates a market in Asia for this CDMA variant of the iPhone 4. Not alone in the latest chapter of this seeming endless rumor, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch analyst Scott Craig points to the success of the iPhone in unlocked markets as an important factor in bringing Apple and Verizon Wireless together at last. With the iPhone on the nation’s largest carrier, Craig predicts Apple could sell an additional 8 million handsets in FY 2011. So what do you think — will the allure of selling an additional 8-9 million handsets be enough to finally make Apple and Verizon Wireless work together to make the CDMA iPhone a reality?

Thanks to all who sent this in!

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Although none of its previous attempts at cracking the tablet market have been met with success, Rodman Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar piped up today and claimed that Nokia is once again going to try to break into the now-burgeoning market. So far there’s nothing in the way of evidence to support his claims, but we don’t think we need to look much further than the fact Nokia and Intel recently merged Maemo with Mobilin to create MeeGo to see that the chances of Nokia once again putting a tablet on store shelves are pretty good.

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Although customers have yet to touch the device, let alone see it in person, that hasn’t stopped iSuppli from predicting that Apple will ship a whopping 7.1 million units of the tablet in 2010. The numbers, which iSuppli has called “conservative”, are based on a high volume of sales to both early adopters and those who are “attracted to the iPad’s unique touch-screen-based user interface”. The number is definitely up there, it’s the highest prediction we’ve heard, but it must be remembered that just a few days into pre-orders Apple supposedly sold more than 150,000 units in the US alone. Elsewhere, Apple itself is said to be surprised by the number of people that have registered their interest in the device. Even though the competition is sure to explode as we head deeper and deeper into 2010 and beyond, iSuppli is already speculating that 2011 will see sales of 14.4 million units with 2012 seeing 20.1 million sold. If any one company can move this much gear that truthfully serves no purpose other than content consumption, it’s definitely Apple.

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Just in case the current economic climate didn’t tip you off, Gartner has issued new predictions for PC sales in 2009 and things don’t look good. You don’t say? According to the firm, the PC market is in for its sharpest decline ever in 2009 with sales expected to drop a massive 11.9 percent. Should Gartner’s prediction be accurate, the PC business is in for a decline nearly three times its current record slide of 3.2 percent in 2001. Insights from George Shiffler, research director at Gartner:

The PC industry is facing extraordinary conditions as the global economy continues to weaken, users stretch PC lifetimes and PC suppliers grow increasingly cautious.

The firm sees laptop sales rising around 9 percent year-over-year in 2009 while progress in the portable department is offset, and then some, by a steep 32 percent drop off in desktop sales. Gartner also predicts a 10.4 percent sales decline in emerging markets which saw an 11.1 percent growth in its prior worst year, 2002. Long story short, 2008 was bleak and 2009 is shaping up to be even worse.

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