Apple Inc. Earns $2400 Profit Every Second

$178,000,000,000.00 cash
34,000 iPhones sold per hour
$8,300,000.00 profit per day
$2,400.00 profit every second

Apple shares soared after the company generated more profit and more sales of iPhones than ever expected. “If anyone can crush targets despite the strong dollar, it is without any doubt, the heavy weight champion, Apple, which has sold more iPhones than the entire combined population of the U.K. and France. Most of their iPhone sale came from China and strong dollar wasn’t that much of an issue for the firm,” Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Avatrade, wrote in emailed comments.

CNBC reported that Apple sales of iPhones hit 74.5 million units versus a 65.7 million estimate. Sales of the iPad hit 21.4 million units versus a 22.2 million unit estimate.  Apple’s cash pile rose to almost $178 billion, up 15 percent from the prior quarter.

Apple also revealed during a conference call with analysts that it plans to ship its new Apple Watch wearable device in April of this year. Shares rose 5 percent in after-hours trading.

“I think the runaway success of the iPhone 6 plus and that huge hunger particularly in Asia for the large form factor screen is the runaway story of why this set of numbers is so strong,” said Max Wolff, chief economist at Manhattan Venture Partners, in a “Closing Bell” interview.

Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri told Reuters that the company’s China revenue grew 70 percent and that it was not concerned about an economic slowdown there eating into results.

Apple said it sold a record 74.5m iPhones during the quarter – the equivalent of 34,000 per hour – significantly ahead of forecasts that it would sell 65m.

Analysts were expecting strong iPhone sales figures and encouraging growth in the Chinese market. Apple also has several new products, including its smart watch, in the pipeline, which some traders are betting means even more gains for the stock. Apple offered few new details on the watch during its conference call, other than setting the shipping timeframe. Some had expected the watch to launch in March.

Most speculators are trying to get a handle on the 178 billion dollar in cash that Apple is sitting on.  That is $178,000,000,000.00 that is more than the gold held by the UK. Almost the total GDP of Ireland, it is more than the foreign exchange reserves of Jordan or Egypt.

What will Apple do with all its cash…? Shares in IPhone maker rose more than 6% after it records biggest profits ever reported by a company, equivalent to $8.3m profit every hour of the day. Every second Apple makes a profit of $2300.00.

Sales of the Apple Mac and from the App Store also hit record levels. Apple said that 65pc of its revenues are now from outside the US. However, iPad sales were below expectations, hitting 21.4m, compared to estimates of 22.1m and down 18% in 2014 from a year earlier. Overall, Apple has now sold more than 1bn products that use its operating system iOS.