Apple was releasing fourth-quarter results after U.S. markets closed.

And many analysts said that Apple will report earnings of less than $1.43 a share.

Consensus estimates were at EPS of $1.42 (+12.7% year-over-year) on revenues of $9.209B (+16.6% year-over-year) and gross margins of 35.5%.

Well, they were, again, wrong.

The results are: $9.87B revenue, $1.67B profit. 3.05M Macs sold, 10.2M iPods, 7.4M iPhones.

With earnings of $1.82 a share!

So the big headline was:

Apple reports 46% earnings increase

Apple enjoyed its most profitable quarter ever.

Period.

Ad the BBC was right.

See here the official results.

Tags: Apple, analysts, quarter resukts