Apple Leaps Higher on Q3 Earnings Beat

Shares of Apple

are jumping in the after-hours following the release of the company's Q3 earnings results. Currently, shares are higher by 6.68%, trading at $402.01; they closed the regular session higher by 0.82%, at $376.85. Apple said that Q3 EPS came in at $7.79 on revenues of $28.57 billion; the Street was looking for $5.84 per share on revenues of $24.98 billion. Revenues increased 82.0% year over year. The company sees Q4 EPS of $5.50 on revenues of $25 billion; the Street was at $6.44 per share on revenues of $27.65 billion. "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 Inc. designs, manufactures and markets a range of personal computers, mobile communication and media devices, and portable digital music players, and sells a range of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications.