Apple Posts Record Q2 $24.6B Revenue, $6B Profit [UPDATE]

Apple announced yet another record quarter Wednesday for its second fiscal quarter ending in March. The company said it brought in revenues of US$24.67 billion, with a profit of $5.99 billion, which works out to $6.40 per share (EPS). That’s nearly double last year’s revenue of $13.50 billion with earnings of $3.07 billion ($3.33 EPS), and well ahead of consensus estimates from Wall Street, which projected that Apple would turn in $23.34 billion in revenue and EPS of $5.36.

In addition, it nearly matches Apple’s December quarter from 2010 (revenue of $26.74 billion and earnings of $6 billion), a quarter that has historically been the company’s best quarter in the year.

“With quarterly revenue growth of 83 percent and profit growth of 95 percent, we’re firing on all cylinders,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement. “We will continue to innovate on all fronts throughout the remainder of the year.”

“We are extremely pleased with our record March quarter revenue and earnings and cash flow from operations of over $6.2 billion,” Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said. “Looking ahead to the third fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $23 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $5.03.”

These results put Apple on course to be a $100 billion a year company for the first time, and it was pushed by strong sales of Macs, iPhones, and iPads. Apple sold 3.76 million Macs, representing a 28% increase year-over-year, crushing the 3.2% decline the global PC market saw according by IDC.

Apple also sold 18.65 million iPhones around the worlds, a massive 113% increase year-over-year. Apple didn’t break out numbers for its new partner in the U.S., Verizon, though it’s likely analysts will be asking during the company’s quarter conference call, which will be held later this afternoon.

On the iPad front, Apple disappointed our own John Martellaro [Editor’s note: By a lot!] by reporting sales of 4.69 million iPads, towards the low end of analyst estimates. Apple wasn’t yet selling the device in the first quarter of 2010 to get a year-over-year comparison, but is markedly less than last quarter, when Apple sold 7.33 million iPads. The company transitioned to the iPad 2 during the quarter, however, a process that disrupted sales of the device.

[Update: This article was updated with additional information, including unit sales, consensus numbers, comments from Apple, and a jab at our dear friend and colleague, John Martellaro. - Editor]

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