Apple forecast beats Wall Street view, despite iPhone 4 woes

Apple Inc gave an unusually upbeat revenue forecast that trounced Wall Street's expectations and eased fears that the "Antennagate" controversy around its iPhone 4's reception would hurt sales, boosting its shares 3%.
It also reported a surprisingly large 33% spike in Mac computer sales — helped partly by a strong showing in Asia — that beefed up June-quarter earnings, as iPad and iPhone business came in largely in line.
But it was a revenue projection sharply ahead of Wall Street targets that stole the limelight. Apple's projected $18 bln in revenue for the current quarter exceeded market predictions of about $17 bln — an unusually optimistic forecast for a company notorious for its conservative outlook.
"This is one of the few times in recent memory that Apple's guidance has been ahead of the Street, at a time when investors were getting concerned the iPhone 4 antenna issues could hamper sales," said Oppenheimer analyst Yair Reiner. "Apple's sending a strong signal it sees things differently."
The so-called "Antennagate" saga has weighed on Apple's shares and outlook. A defiant chief executive Steve Jobs has called poor smartphone reception an industrywide problem, but rival CEOs and experts dispute that claim.
Complaints about the iPhone 4 surfaced soon after its June 24 release, with users saying its wireless signal weakens drastically when the device is held in a certain way. Apple's shares have fallen about 7% since June 24.
The company now offers free iPhone cases to those experiencing reception problems, but some analysts say it remains to be seen whether the matter has been put to rest.
Although the iPhone and iPad, launched in January, generated most of the headlines for Apple, it was the Mac computer that helped make the quarter for the company.
Apple sold 3.47 mln Macs in the fiscal third quarter ended June 26, better than the 3.2 mln Wall Street had expected.
It also continued to expand globally, with international sales comprising 52% of revenue. That was down from 58% last quarter, but up from 44% a year ago. Sales rose 66% in Europe and surged 160% in the Asia-Pacific region.
Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook repeatedly declined to say whether the
Apple said both the iPhone and the iPad are flying off store shelves as fast as the company can make them. But the company wouldn't speculate as to when it might be able to build enough to satisfy demand.
Shares in Apple closed up 2.6% at $251.89 on Nasdaq and rose to $259.61 in extended trading.
It reported net income for the fiscal third quarter of $3.25 bln, or $3.51 a share, up 78% from $1.83 bln, or $2.01 a share, in the year-ago period.
Analysts on average were expecting earnings of $3.11 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue rose 61% to $15.7 bln, well ahead of Wall Street's forecast for $14.75 bln.
Apple's gross margin came in at 39.1%, in line with Wall Street's estimate despite fears about the impact of component costs, foreign currency and an aggressive price point for the iPad.
For the current quarter, Apple estimated earnings of $3.44 a share. It expects a gross margin of 35%, citing a higher mix of iPhone 4 and iPad sales as well as the impact of the iPhone 4 case give-away, under which $175 mln will be deferred into the December quarter.
The company is embarking on an ambitious push to drive iPhone growth overseas.
Apple sold 8.4 mln of the smartphones in the June quarter, about what the Street had expected. Sales of the iPad — launched in April — totalled 3.27 mln units.