Full story below courtesy of [Billboard Biz]

Apple blew past expectations by reporting on Tuesday it earned $11.6 billion in its second fiscal quarter on revenue of $39.2 billion. On a per-share basis, Apple earned $12.30, up from $6.40 a year earlier and much better than the $10.02 that analysts had predicted.

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Apple shares were surging 7 percent, or $38, in the after-hours session after having lost 2 percent to $560.28 during regular trading. In the year-ago quarter, Apple posted a $6 billion profit on $25 million revenue. One slight disappointment in the earnings release was that Apple sold just under 12 million iPads during the quarter, a 151 percent increase over a year ago but some analysts were expecting something closer to 13 million, given the astonishing popularity of the tablet computer.

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Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said that there were only about 2 million iPads in its inventory, which is below the company’s target of 4-6 weeks worth of sales, so the insinuation is that there certainly is no shortage of consumers who plan on purchasing an iPad in the weeks ahead. Apple said it sold 35.1 million iPhones during the quarter, an 88 percent leap since last year, and 4 million Mac computers, up 7 percent. Apple sold 7.7 million iPods, which was 15 percent lower than the same quarter a year ago.