That figure represents $0.17 per diluted share, compared with $200 million, or $0.55 per diluted share for the third quarter of fiscal 2000. Revenues for the quarter were $1.475 billion, down 19 percent from the same quarter a year ago, and gross margins were 29.4 percent, compared to 29.8 percent for the same period last year. International sales accounted for 44 percent of the quarter's revenues.
Analysts polled by research firm Thomson Financial/First Call had expected Apple to earn $0.06 to $0.26 per share, with a consensus of $0.15, on sales of $1.6 billion.
Apple said it sold 827,000 Macs during the third quarter.
The Mac maker in April announced a second-quarter profit of $43 million, or $0.12 per diluted share.
"We had a great education quarter, with significant year-over-year growth, and a great iBook quarter, shipping over 182,000 of our new wildly popular consumer and education notebooks," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement. "Perhaps the most strategic event of the quarter was the launching of Apple Retail Stores, with the very successful openings of our first two stores, and plans to open 23 more in 2001."
Apple Chief Financial Officer Fred Anderson said the company has reserves of $4.2 billion in cash, "and we are targeting a slight sequential increase in revenues and earnings per share in the September quarter."
Online looking up
In a conference call with financial analysts, Anderson talked up the company's performance in what he acknowledged were difficult economic conditions. On the retail front, he said that both the online Apple store and its new brick-and-mortar outlets have enjoyed success with Mac shoppers.
According to Anderson, sales through Apple's online store accounted for 40 percent of the company's business during the third quarter, up from 34 percent in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, he said, the company remains on track to open 25 retail outlets by the end of the year; in August and September, he said, the company will open 10 new stores. Apple will begin announcing financial results on the retail segment beginning in the December quarter, he said.
Anderson also hailed year-over-year growth of 7 percent in the education market, which he said was driven in large part by the success of Apple's new iBook consumer portable. He told analysts that the company had managed to reduce its inventory to $19 million, less than four weeks' worth of products.
Looking to the future, Anderson predicted that despite the global economic slump, Apple's revenues will rise slightly for the fourth fiscal quarter.
Apple's stock fell in after-hours trade on Instinet, dropping to $22.75 from a Nasdaq close Tuesday of $25.10.
