Apple Beats the Street, Reports $45.6 Billion Revenue and $11.62 EPS [Update]

$AAPLApple reported its fiscal second quarter results on Tuesday, and the company beat Wall Street's estimates. Apple reported revenue of $45.6 billion with earnings of $10.2 billion, or earnings per share (EPS) of $11.62. That's up year over year, and tops consensus estimates from analysts of $43.54 billion in revenue with EPS of $10.18.

Apple had guided for $42 to $44 billion in revenues, making this the first quarter Apple has blown past its own guidance since Peter Oppenheimer announced that he would no longer sandbag quarter results in 2013. Wall Street should be pleased with these numbers, but we are awaiting reaction even now.

The company reported gross margins of 39.3 percent, up from 37.5 percent in the year ago quarter. Apple also said that international sales grew to 66 percent of revenues.

"We're very proud of our quarterly results, especially our strong iPhone sales and record revenue from services," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement. "We're eagerly looking forward to introducing more new products and services that only Apple could bring to market."

Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer added, "We generated $13.5 billion in cash flow from operations and returned almost $21 billion in cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases during the March quarter. That brings cumulative payments under our capital return program to $66 billion."

The company guided for revenues between $36 billion and $38 billion, just ahead of consensus numbers. The company expects gross margins between 37 percent and 38 percent, and operating expenses between $4.4 billion and $4.5 billion.

Apple did not announce unit sales of iPhone, iPad, Mac, or any of its other products. We expect the company to announce those details during its quarterly conference call with analysts starting at 5:00 PM Eastern. Stay tuned for detailed coverage at The Mac Observer.

Shares of $AAPL closed lower on Wednesday at $524.75, down $6.949 (-1.31 percent), on strong volume of 9.1 million shares trading hands.

[Update: This article was updated with additional details and comments from Apple.]

*In the interest of full disclosure, the author holds a tiny, almost insignificant share in AAPL stock that was not an influence in the creation of this article.