Apple Earnings: Playing the Guidance Game -- and Winning

And you thought the June quarter was supposed to be boring.

Well, it normally is. But this time around, Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) fiscal third-quarter earnings release on Tuesday was so strong that it helped push shares to all-time highs in after-hours trading.

Revenue totaled $45.4 billion, of which $8.7 billion trickled down to the bottom line in the form of net income, or $1.67 per share. iPhone unit sales came in better than expected at 41 million, which is particularly impressive considering the fact that rumors about the next iPhone continue to circulate. That normally puts a more meaningful damper on demand. To be clear, high expectations for the 10th-generation iPhone are still hurting sales, just not as badly as they could be. Apple has now sold 1.2 billion iPhones to date.

Source: Fool.com