Apple Profit Shoots Up 125%

Apple shocked analysts yesterday by posting a whopping 125% leap in its fiscal third-quarter profits—a feat it achieved without releasing any major new products in the past six months. And with a number of new products scheduled for the second half of 2011, this could be just the tip of the iceberg, the LA Times notes. “From now until the end of the year, I can't think of a time when they'll have a stronger few months of new products,” one analyst said.

Apple’s $7.3 billion in total earnings was a record for the company, and came with record quarterly sales for both the iPhone (20.3 million units) and iPad (9.3 million). That was driven in part by a newfound focus on overseas sales. “If any of us would have been told a year ago that we would do $3.8 billion in greater China in a quarter, I don't think very many of us would have believed it,” COO Tim Cook commented. Apple stock shot up 5% in after-hours trading following the report. (More Apple stories.)