(Image Source: todaysiphone)

BY EVAN THOMAS

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN

What would you do with $13 billion? Apple has to answer that question following its earnings call on Tuesday.
 

Apple reported $13.06 billion in profit on $46.33 billion in revenue for the first fiscal quarter of 2012, more than double last year’s numbers. It was the biggest quarter in the company’s history.
 

iPods, iPads and Mac computer sales all saw record growth. Apple sold more than 37 million iPhones alone, representing 128% growth since last year.


Analysts had predicted decent growth in the quarter-- but as The Wall Street Journal reports-- Apple beat those forecasts without breaking a sweat.
 

“They blew past revenue expectations by 19%. ...They came in well over $13 a share. It pretty much qualifies as a blowout quarter, compared to what expectations were.”


This from the company that was for a time last week worth more on the public market than all of Greece. On January 19th, CNN reported Apple’s market cap hit $400 billion.


CNBC puts that in perspective.


“474 companies in the S&P 500, if you added them all up, still don’t have a market cap of even that amount.”



Not only are Apple’s sales numbers on the rise-- the company’s growth rate is accelerating. A ReadWriteWeb blogger points out-- it’s tough for a large company to continue growing-- and it won’t be easy to keep breaking revenue records.


“Can it happen again? It's only going to get harder. To match this year's growth — 73% — Apple's December 2012 quarter would have to beat $80 billion in sales. That's a lot of iPhones.”



In the meantime, Gizmodo wonders what Apple is planning to do with all that money.


“...just think about how many space-ship campuses and lawsuits $13 billion of profit can buy.”



The Wall Street Journal reports Apple’s stock jumped more than 8% in after-hours trading following the news. That gives Apple a market value of $418 billion-- a number that makes the tech mammoth the most valuable publicly-traded company in the world.