Apple's Q1 2010 earnings report was good enough to send shares of Apple Inc. up more than 4.5% Tuesday. In the early afternoon session, the stock was trading at US$212.48, a gain of 9.405 (+4.63%), on heavy volume of 39.2 million shares trading hands.

On Monday, Apple turned in revenue of $15.68 billion for the December quarter, with profits of $3.38 billion ($3.67 EPS). Those results compare to revenue of $11.88 billion and a net quarterly profit of $2.26 billion ($2.50 EPS) in the year-ago quarter. Analysts had been expecting EPS of $2.06 on revenue of only $12.05 billion.

Also fueling the company's stock price is a media event scheduled for Wednesday, during which Apple is expected to unveil a long-awaited tablet device.

Apple's all-time closing high was set January 19th, 2010, when the stock closed at $215.04. A broad market retreat shed a quick 17 points off of that high in the days following that high.

*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.