Preliminary fourth quarter results from Apple

I'm sure you haven't forgotten that today is Apple's 4th quarter earnings call. In anticipation Apple has released preliminary fourth quarter results. Why are these results so preliminary? Because of a certain stock options issue that is going to force Apple to restate some historical financial results which will, in turn, have an impact on these results.

Onto the numbers:

• Apple posted a revenue of $4.84 billion and a net quarterly profit of $546 million ($.62 per diluted share)

• Gross margin was 29.2%, up from 28.1%

• International sales accounted for 40% of this revenue

• 1,610,000 Macs were shipped this quarter (30% growth in Mac shipments)
  

• 8,729,000 iPods were shipped (35% growth in iPod shipments)

• Apple has over $10 billion in cash

• expects revenue of $6 to $6.2 billion for first quarter 2007

Not too shabby, and a 30% increase in Mac shipments? That's a pretty big deal, folks.