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Wall St.’s expectations were for Apple (AAPL) to report earnings of 72 cents per share on 21 percent revenue growth, to $5.29 billion dollars, according to a poll of analysts by Thomson Financial. On a more detailed basis the street consensus for iPod shipments is for 10 million, while Mac shipments are expected at 1.7 million.

Apple posted revenue of $5.41 billion and net quarterly profit of $818 million, or $.92 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $4.37 billion and net quarterly profit of $472 million, or $.54 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 36.9 percent, up from 30.3 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 40 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

iPod shipments came in low at 9.815 million. Apple shipped 1,764,000 Macintosh computers, representing 33 percent growth over the year-ago quarter.

The company said it hoped to sell one million iPhones by the end of its first quarter of sales, a figure likely to disappoint.

Apple sees Q4 revenue of about $5.7 billion and fiscal Q4 EPS of $.65. The guidance alone was enough to sink the shares. Analysts are expecting $.82 for the next Q.

Shares fell 3% in the after-market.

Douglas A. McIntyre