>Apple first-quarter 2010 earnings soared past Wall Street expectations Monday, reporting a profit of $3.37 billion, or $3.74 per share.
That’s up 50 percent from the same quarter a year ago, when profits reached $2.26 billion, or $2.54 per share.
Revenue for the quarter was $15.6 billion, up 32 percent from the same quarter a year ago. Wall Street was expecting between $11.21 billion and $12.6 billion in revenue on earnings of $2.07 per share. And Apple always gives an overly conservative estimate; last quarter Apple said it was anticipating earnings between $1.70 per share and $1.78 per share and revenue of between $11.3 billion and $11.6 billion.
Apple sold 3.36 million Macs, up 33 percent from a year ago, 8.7 million iPhones, a 100 percent gain over the last year, and 21 million iPods, down 8 percent.
In a statement, Apple CEO Steve Jobs called it “surprising” that they are now a $50 billion company, and also hinted at Wednesday’s event, saying there will be a “major new product that we’re really excited about.” It’s widely assumed that will be a tablet computer.
Looking ahead to the next quarter, Apple again stayed conservative, saying it expects revenue between $11 billion and $11.4 billion and earnings per share from $2.06 to $2.18.
$39.8 billion in the bank. No debts.
No surprises there then. 
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