Apple Beats Expectations Again: Fool by Numbers

On Tuesday, iEverything maker Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL  ) released earnings for the 2007 fiscal year ended Sept. 29.

• Rick Munarriz told us in no uncertain terms that Apple would impress, and it did. Can I borrow your crystal ball, Rick?
• The iPhone contributed $123 million to 2007 sales, which is a nice start but still looks tiny next to the $10.8 billion generated by the iPod/iTunes complex.
• The operating cash machine is growing even faster than sales or earnings. That's like waving Harlequin garb in front of a Fool -- a signal to charge in and look for more "buy" signals.

(Figures in millions, except per-share data)

Income Statement Highlights

	FY 2007	FY 2006	Change
Sales	$24,006	$19,315	24.3%
Net Profit	$3,496	$1,989	75.8%
EPS	$3.93	$2.27	73.1%
Diluted Shares	889.3	877.5	1.3%

Get back to basics with the income statement.

Margin Checkup

	FY 2007	FY 2006	Change*
Gross	34.0%	29.0%	5.0
Operating	18.4%	12.7%	5.7
Net	14.6%	10.3%	4.3

*Expressed in percentage points.

Margins are the earnings engine.

Balance Sheet Highlights

Assets	FY 2007	FY 2006	Change
Cash + ST Invest.	$15,386	$10,110	52.2%
Accounts Rec.	$1,637	$1,252	30.8%
Inventory	$346	$270	28.1%

Liabilities	FY 2007	FY 2006	Change
Accounts Payable	$4,970	$3,390	46.6%
Long-Term Debt	$0	$0	N/A

The balance sheet reflects the company's health.

Cash Flow Highlights

	FY 2007	FY 2006	Change
Cash From Ops.	$5,474	$2,220	146.6%

Free cash flow is a Fool's best friend. However, all we got today is his brother.

Competitive Context

	Market Cap	Trailing P/E Ratio	CAPS Rating (out of 5)
Apple	$150,882.7	43.2	***
Dell (Nasdaq: DELL  )	$64,014.1	22.0	**
Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ  )	$132,228.8	20.7	****
SanDisk (Nasdaq: SNDK  )	$10,050.2	132.4	****
RealNetworks (Nasdaq: RNWK  )	$972.0	9.4	**
Napster (Nasdaq: NAPS  )	$152.0	N/A	*

I'm using the latest reported numbers from Capital IQ. Nobody is anybody without some context.

Related Foolishness:

• Apple Drops the Digital-Music Shackles
• Amazon 2, Apple 0
• Climbing the Wall of Worry
• Foolish Fundamentals: The Balance Sheet