After the close Tuesday, Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) posted its best-quarter ever, thanks to sales of its Mac computers, iPads and iPhones. Shares gained 3% Wednesday.
Apple easily surpassed profit forecasts and, more importantly, raised its revenue outlook above analysts' expectations when it released results after the market closed Tuesday.
Apple also beat analyst estimates for its third quarter, too. The company reported $15.7 billion in revenue for the quarter with earnings of $3.25 billion and earnings per share of $3.51. Apple sold sold some 3.47 million Macs during the quarter, along with 8.4 million iPhones, 9.41 million iPods, and 3.27 million iPads.
Outlook: Apple expects revenue for the fourth quarter to be $18 billion and earnings to be at $3.44 a share. Consensus for the September quarter revenue was at $17.03 billion.