SAN JOSE, Calif. - Apple Inc.'s fiscal second-quarter profit jumped 36 percent on blistering sales of Macintosh computers, but the company forecast lower-than-expected earnings and its stock price tumbled as much as 5 percent.
The Mac and iPod maker is believed to be especially vulnerable to slowing consumer spending in the United States because of its strong presence here versus overseas.
Apple shares fell $2.31, or about 1 percent, to $160.58, in after-hours trading. The stock had fallen nearly 5 percent earlier. It had closed up $2.69, or 1.7 percent, at $162.89 before its earnings were reported.
But the latest results showed that it was firing on all cylinders during the first three months of the year.
The Cupertino-based company earned $1.05 billion, or $1.16 per share, in its second quarter, which ended March 29. That's 9 cents per share better than what analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were expecting.
During the same period last year, Apple earned $770 million, or 87 cents per share.
Revenue jumped 43 percent in the period to $7.51 billion — also beating Wall Street's expectations. Analysts were predicting Apple would rake in $6.96 billion in revenue.
Apple said it was the strongest sales and earnings performance during the March quarter in Apple's history.
Apple's chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, declined in an interview to discuss how the company might be affected by slowing domestic consumer spending. Management is aware of the economic pressures but is focused on running the company, which performed "exceptionally well" and turned in an "awesome" quarter, he said.
The company forecast profits for the fiscal third quarter of $1 per share, short of the $1.10 per share in the average analyst estimate and at the low end of what all analysts polled were expecting.
Sales are expected to be about $7.2 billion, slightly above the $7.16 billion Wall Street was expecting.
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