Indiana Grain Company, LLC

Posted: 07/20/10

By: tomgrisafi

Apple surprised us again today as the company reported 3rd quarter revenue on Tuesday after the close of trading on Wall Street. Blowing consensus estimates out of the water, Apple beat the street by posting earnings totaling $15.74 billion.

Even Apple's guidance is worth noting with Q4 Revenue guidance at $18 billion vs. $17.03 Street consensus. Q4 EPS guidance is $3.44 vs. $3.82 Street consensus.

Apple revealed today, as expected, stellar sales across its vast iDevice product line. During the quarter that ended June 30th, Apple shipped 3.27 million iPads, 3.47 million Macs, and 9.4 million iPods. Q3 iPhone shipments, however, came in at 8.4 million - slightly below consensus estimates.

With regard to the controversy and customer fallout in the wake of "Antennagate," Apple largely seems unaffected by the recent wave of negative press and consumer criticisms.

Looking ahead to the next quarter, Apple is presently forecasting $18 billion in revenue and $3.44 EPS. That's a pretty bold and confident prediction, especially coming from a company that is known for presenting very, very tentative if not absurdly conservative estimates in order to obliterate them when the cold hard data is released.