Apple Stock Closes Up 5.4% at $67.63

Apple computer earned $410 million, or 47 cents a share, for the quarter ended April 1, up from $290 million, or 34 cents, a year earlier. Gross margins came in at 29.8%, equal with the year-ago quarter.

This year's results, which included 3 cents a share in stock option expenses and other one-time items, exceeded the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call, who expected Apple to earn 43 cents a share.

Revenue climbed almost 35% to $4.36 billion as Apple sold 8.5 million iPod units, up from 5.3 million a year earlier. The company sold some 1.112 million Macs during the quarter, representing a 4% growth in Macs year over year. The technology giant now gets 39% of its revenue from the popular iPod product and is benefiting as more consumers use the device to play digital songs and videos.

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