Steve Jobs announced leave for third time

I guess the Steve Jobs announcement that he was leaving Apple for the third time for health issues was not a complete shock and with the benefit of seeing the results, was probably well timed and definitely coordinated. Visuals and reports suggest that Jobs was ill since September. In fact he had only been seen on TV twice since then. OK, but let us get into the nitty gritty of the results, which were actually released after IBM, the other tech major reporting after hours.




First, a word from outgoing CEO Steve Jobs: "We had a phenomenal holiday quarter with record Mac, iPhone and iPad sales. We are firing on all cylinders and we've got some exciting things in the pipeline for this year including iPhone 4 on Verizon which customers can't wait to get their hands on."



The investor relations official release ---> Apple Reports First Quarter Results points to a record quarter in which "Apple sold 4.13 million Macs during the quarter, a 23 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 16.24 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 86 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 19.45 million iPods during the quarter, representing a seven percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. The Company also sold 7.33 million iPads during the quarter."



Henry Blodget tweeted that the "Only blemish on Apple's quarter: Mac sales, which were slightly below estimated (4.1mm)" But still, who cares in a record quarter where sales smashed even the most optimistic estimates, 26.74 billion Dollars of revenue translated to a bottom line of 6 billion Dollars, translated to EPS gets you 6.43 Dollars. Which was ONE DOLLAR more in earnings than consensus. After hours, when the stock resumed trade after being suspended, the stock traded at a record. Which sounds believable after a record quarter. But, bear in mind that the stock opened 6 percent lower after the jittery Steve Jobs medical leave announcement.



We continue to buy the stock, there are lots of excellent reasons to be optimistic about the company over the coming years, including what perhaps will blow you away ---> iPads Are Already 7% Of Global PC Market. That was for me the most amazing part. And remember, if you needed reminding, this device was released 28 May 2010. Over 14 million have been sold already.