Apple reports Q2 2013 earnings

It's the earnings report everybody has been waiting for. Apple just announced earnings for the second quarter of its 2013 fiscal year, and the news is actually quite good.

Apple's own guidance for Q2 2013 expected revenues in the range of $41-43 billion, with gross margins in the range of 37.5 to 38.5 percent. Wall Street analysts were in the same general range, with institutional investors looking at an average earnings number of $41.82 billion and independent analysts a bit more bullish at $43.75 billion. Results for the same quarter last year were $39.19 billion in revenue, earnings per share of $12.30 and a gross margin of 47.4 percent.

Actual results for the quarter were as follows:

• Revenue: $43.6 billion (beat expectations and institutional investors)

• Earnings Per Share: $10.09

• Gross Margin: 37.5 percent (met expectations, did not meet street expectations)

Tim Cook was quoted as saying, "Our teams are hard at work on some amazing new hardware, software and services, and we are very excited about the products in our pipeline."

Apple is providing the following guidance for its fiscal 2013 third quarter:

• revenue between $33.5 billion and $35.5 billion

• gross margin between 36 percent and 37 percent

• operating expenses between $3.85 billion and $3.95 billion

• other income/(expense) of $300 million

• tax rate of 26 percent

Join us at 4:50 PM ET today for a liveblog of the earnings call.