By Julia Love and Devika Krishna Kumar
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc
The world's largest company by market value said on Tuesday that it sold about 48.05 million iPhones in the fourth quarter, slightly below analysts' average forecast of 48.72 million, according to a poll by Fortune magazine.
Apple's sales in China nearly doubled to $12.52 billion, accounting for nearly a quarter of its total revenue. In an interview with Reuters, Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said Apple was seeing no signs of a slowdown in that market, despite some economic turmoil.
"We continue to have wonderful success there," he said, adding that Apple now has 25 stores in the country and is opening a new one roughly every month.
The company's shares initially rose nearly 2 percent in extended trading, but later pared gains.
"The street was fearing soft guidance and instead got a good December outlook," said Daniel Ives, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets.
For the current quarter, which will include a full three months of sales of the new iPhones, Apple forecast revenue between $75.5 billion and $77.5 billion. Analysts had been expecting revenue of just over $77 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Morningstar analyst Brian Colello said the forecast was slightly below expectations but investors were pricing in a worse outcome, which was why the stock rose after hours.
Apple posted record sales of its latest iPhones in the first weekend that they hit stores in late September as it included China sales for the first time. The last quarter only included two days of sales of the new iPhones.
The release of the iPhone 6 set off a sales frenzy last year, propelling Apple to the most profitable quarter ever for a U.S. company.
Analyst Shannon Cross of Cross Research said Apple's guidance for the current quarter suggested the company can top its success last year. "It suggests that they are definitely up to the task," she said.
Many analysts believe that China is poised to replace the United States as Apple's biggest market.
Apple's net income rose to $11.12 billion, or $1.96 per share, in the quarter ended Sept. 26, up from $8.47 billion, or $1.42 per share, a year earlier.
Net sales rose about 22 percent to $51.50 billion.
Analysts on average had expected a profit of $1.88 per share and revenue of $51.11 billion.
Apple's shares, which fell steeply in mid-August as concerns about the company's business in China hit fever pitch, were trading at $114.95 after the bell.
(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in Bengaluru and Julia Love in San Francisco; Editing by Kirti Pandey and Bill Rigby)
