Apple earnings fall, but beat estimates

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Apple Inc. (AAPL) reported a decline in profits Tuesday afternoon for its third fiscal quarter, though the results came in ahead of Wall Street's estimates. For the period ended June 29, Apple reported net income of $6.9 billion, or $7.47 per share, compared with net income of $8.8 billion, or $9.32 per share, for the same period last year. Revenues grew slightly to $35.3 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $7.31 per share on revenue of $35 billion, according to consensus forecasts from FactSet. The company shipped 31.2 million iPhones in the quarter; analysts had predicted a range of 26 million to 27 million iPhones shipped, on average. Shipment of the iPad totaled 14.6 million units. Apple shares rose 2.5% in after-hours trades following the results