Apple Blows Past Estimates

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Apple delivered the earnings surprise of the season after the close on Wednesday, releasing results that far surpassed Wall Street estimates.

Apple’s earnings of 70 cents a share blew past 48-cent estimates, and revenues soared 74% to $3.49 billion, well above $3.15 billion forecasts. The company reported better than expected margins of 28.5%, and also beat expectations with more than a million Macs shipped in the quarter.

As if that weren’t enough, Apple said its outperformance will continue at least another quarter. The company said it expects March quarter earnings of 40 cents a share, above 33-cent estimates, and revenues of $2.9 billion, above $2.75 billion forecasts.

“We are thrilled to report the highest quarterly revenue and net income in Apple’s history,” CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement. “We’ve sold over 10 million iPods to date, and are kicking off the new year with a slate of innovative new products, including iPod shuffle, Mac mini and iLife ’05.”

Shares of Apple soared more than 10% after hours on the news.

Also after the close, WebSideStory raised guidance.

Stocks rose during the day, as better than expected results from Intel outweighed another record high in the trade deficit.

The Nasdaq rose 12 to 2092, the S&P 500 climbed 4 to 1187, and the Dow rose 61 to 10,617. Volume rose to 1.56 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.27 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 19-13 on the NYSE, and 16-14 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 61% on the NYSE, and 74% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 61-22 on the NYSE, and 51-48 on the Nasdaq.

Shares of Intel climbed nearly 3%, and the company’s increase in capital spending boosted the stocks of chip equipment makers Novellus , KLA-Tencor and Applied Materials .

Websense jumped 12% after raising guidance.

Salesforce.com fell 8% on its outlook.

Neoforma soared 16% after the company hired Merrill Lynch to explore strategic alternatives.