Update: Apple Tops Estimates, but Takes Down Sales Guidance

Updated from 4:50 p.m. ET

Apple (AAPL) easily beat analysts' earnings estimates for the second fiscal quarter, but the bottom line fell sharply from the same period a year ago, and the PC maker quietly lowered its revenue projection for the full year.

Apple now expects to generate $3.2 billion to $3.4 billion in revenue in the second half of the fiscal year, and said "we are targeting sequential improvements in both revenues and profits in the June and September quarters.''

Still, the company's top line forecast for the second half would leave revenue for the full year shy of the outlook Apple provided at the end of the first quarter. At the time, the company projected revenue of about $6 billion for the full year. Based on today's estimates, sales for the year would come in at $5.63 billion to $5.83 billion.

For the second quarter ended March 31, the company earned $43 million, or 12 cents a diluted share, down from income of $233 million, or 64 cents a diluted share, in the year-ago period. The results in the latest quarter included a gain of $89 million from the sale of about 23 million shares of ARM Holdings (ARMHY) and a charge of $86 million for the write-down of certain equity investments. Without the nonrecurring items, Apple would have earned $40 million, or 11 cents a diluted share.

Either way you slice it, the company trounced the consensus estimate, which called for Apple to earn a penny a share in the latest quarter, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call.

Revenue for the quarter fell 26% to $1.43 billion from $1.95 billion in the same period a year ago. International sales accounted for 48% of the sales in the quarter, and Apple shipped 751,000 Macintosh computers during the period.

Shares of Apple ended the Nasdaq regular session at $22.79, up $2.39 on day, before adding another 14.5% to $26.10 in after-hours Instinet action.

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