Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL) shares rose in after-hours trading Wednesday after the iPhone and iPad maker said its quarterly profit nearly doubled. The news could help lift technology exchange traded funds (ETFs) and PowerShares QQQ (NasdaqGM: QQQ) on Thursday.
“Apple reported strong results driven by iPhones and gross margin, which outweighed iPad 2 supply constraints and Japan’s impact on supply and demand,” Jefferies analysts said in a note Wednesday after the earnings release. “Apple’s typically conservative guidance is below consensus, but we believe Apple will handily beat its guidance.”
PowerShares QQQ rallied more than 2% as the Nasdaq Composite Index posted its best day in six months. Solid earnings from Intel (NasdaqGS: INTC) fueled the party in tech stocks Wednesday. Intel shares jumped nearly 8%.
Apple climbed 3.2% in extended trading Wednesday to as high as $353.39 a share after the results were announced, Bloomberg reported.
“This will restore in investors’ minds that Apple is the magical growth story in tech. They really are amazing,” J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz said after the Wall Street darling reported quarterly results, according to the report.
Apple represents over 20% of the tech-heavy PowerShares QQQ, but its weighting will be reduced in an upcoming special rebalance of the Nasdaq-100, the ETF’s tracking index.
“With quarterly revenue growth of 83% and profit growth of 95%, we’re firing on all cylinders,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, in the earnings release Wednesday. “We will continue to innovate on all fronts throughout the remainder of the year.”
PowerShares QQQ
