Published: Monday, 19 Oct 2009 | 6:33 PM ET

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Apple shares leaped to an all-time high in late trading Monday as the company reported a profit and sales that rose from last year and blew past analysts' forecasts.

Apple's sales of the iPhone and Mac hit quarterly records. Sales of Apple's Mac computers jumped 17 percent from a year earlier to 3.05 million in the September quarter, above analysts' average forecast of roughly 2.8 million.

Apple sold 7.4 million iPhones, up from 6.9 million a year ago, and just shy of expectations of 7.5 million units. Some analysts had thought the company was having a tough time making enough iPhones to meet demand.

"These are huge numbers tonight. Apple is probably the best growth story in tech, maybe one of the best growth stocks in the market. I bet this stock can go to $250 in six to nine months," said Jane Snorek, analyst at First American Funds. "Usually Christmas and back-to-school are correlated and Apple usually has a gigantic Christmas quarter. This makes me think Apple will have a great Christmas."

The maker of the iPhone and iPod earned $1.82 a share in its fiscal fourth quarter, up from $1.26 a share in the same period last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected Apple to earn $1.42 a share on a topline of $9.21 billion.

Shares of Apple, which closed Monday at $189.86

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[AAPL  Loading...      ()   ], jumped more than 7 percent to exceed $200 and hit an all-time high in extended trading. Get after-hours quotes for Apple here.

"This isn't just a one-quarter phenomenon, there's something bigger going on. There's a paradigm shift from a cell phone, a computer in your pocket. Apple's going to run away with that and ultimately, the numbers are going to be inching up as we go forward into 2010," Gene Munster, senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray, told CNBC.

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Apple forecast earnings for the current quarter of $1.70 to $1.78 a share on revenue of $11.3 billion to $11.6 billion.

Apple unveiled a faster iPhone in June and cut the price of the previous generation of the phone to $99. That boosted iPhone sales from July through September to 7.4 million devices, half a million more than last year.

"These are phenomenal results—and use that word. You know, it proves that even in a challenging economy people are willing to pay for what they perceive to be high quality product and a good value product," said Cross Research Analyst Shannon Cross. "It's fantastic earnings for this economy, actually, it's great number for any economy. It just shows the strength of Apple. It reaffirms that Apple is the leading consumer electronics company."

Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP A flag showing the Apple Computer logo flies outside the Apple shop in Regent Street, London.

Apple posted a gross margin of 36.6 percent, up from 34.7 percent a year ago. Wall Street had been expecting a margin of 35.5 percent.

Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said Apple also enjoyed stronger margins from higher-than-anticipated sales of its "Snow Leopard'' operating system for Mac computers.

"While we knew they were gaining share in those categories—PCs and phones—it's still surprising to see this degree of outperformance,'' said Daniel Ernst, an analyst with Hudson Square Research. "But that's just part of the Apple story: they're gaining share with premium-priced products.''

Apple's outlook is typically conservative, though its revenue forecast this quarter was not far off from Wall Street averages. Apple forecast current-quarter earnings of $1.70 to $1.78 a share on revenue of $11.3 billion to $11.6 billion, versus the Street's $1.91 a share on revenue of $11.4 billion.

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- Reuters and AP contributed to this story.

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