Carl Icahn: Extremely pleased with buyback, looking forward to new products as well

Published Wed, Apr 23 2014 5:18 PM EDTUpdated Wed, Apr 23 2014 6:11 PM EDT

CNBC.com staff

Apple posted quarterly earnings and revenue that topped estimates Wednesday and announced a 7-for-1 stock split, fueling the stock higher after a temporary halt.

The company posted earnings of $11.62 a share, on revenue of $45.6 billion, blowing past estimates for $10.18 a share on $43.53 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.

Apple also authorized a 7-for-1 stock split, addressing calls to share more of its cash hoard. While the split will not change the value of Apple's shares (seven shares at $75 each as opposed to one at $525 a share), it could make the company's stock more accessible to individual investors. Shareholders as of June 2 will get six additional shares for each Apple stock they own, and the new split-adjusted trade will take place starting June 9.

The board also approved a dividend increase of approximately 8 percent to $3.29 a share. The company additionally said it would boost the overall size of its capital return program to more than $130 billion by the end of 2015, up from its previous $100 billion plan.

"It's a company that's trying to please Wall Street," Max Wolff, chief economist and strategist at Citizen VC told CNBC's "Closing Bell." "It didn't used to have to. Now it does. I think it's a huge milestone that they've realized they do and they're throwing meat on that. I don't know how transformative it is."

Meanwhile, billionaire investor took to Twitter to express his satisfaction regarding Apple's buyback and results.

(Read Carl Icahn's Tweet here)

"We're very proud of our quarterly results, especially our strong iPhone sales and record revenue from services," said CEO Tim Cook, in a press release. "We're eagerly looking forward to introducing more new products and services that only Apple could bring to market."

Shares surged nearly 8 percent after being temporarily halted in extended-hours trading (Click here to get the latest quotes.) With the post-earnings share price spike, Apple's market cap has climbed back over the half-trillion dollar level.

The tech giant said it sold 43.7 million iPhones and 4.1 million Macs, above expectations for 38.45 million and 4.08 million, respectively. But iPad sales missed estimates, with the company selling 16.35 million units, versus forecasts for 19.8 million.

"Those are surprisingly good numbers, especially on the iPhone," Gene Munster, managing director and senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray, told CNBC. "I think it goes without saying that you've got to take a little bit into context of the negative surprise there on the iPad, but the iPhone is more important. I think it's a bigger part of their business and a bigger part of their growth story longer term and so I think investors should feel a sigh of relief on these numbers."

"We generated $13.5 billion in cash flow from operations and returned almost $21 billion in cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases during the March quarter," said CFO Peter Oppenheimer. "That brings cumulative payments under our capital return program to $66 billion."

Meanwhile, Apple's cash hoard dropped to $151 billion from $159 billion last quarter, declining for the first time since at least 2011.

Apple is expected to release its next generation iPhone in the fall, according to various news reports, although Taiwan's Industrial and Commercial Times reported Tuesday that the 5.5-inch version of the device will be delayed until 2015 because of battery issues.

Apple did not respond to CNBC's request for comment on the report.

Analysts also expect the firm to debut a wearable product, possibly an iWatch, during the second half of this year.

The technology darling needs to prove it can still wow shoppers with "creative leaps" in its mobile phone business, said former Apple CEO, John Sculley, on Wednesday. "What's interesting is we're coming up this fall on three years of Tim Cook serving as CEO since Steve Jobs died, and this may be the time ... for his first creative leap with a product that is truly different from something he inherited from Steve."

Meanwhile, lines of code found in Apple's iOS7 SDK suggested the company could be working on building its voice-activated application Siri into Apple TV, confirming recent speculation.

As of Wednesday's close, the tech giant's shares had gained more than 30 percent over the last 12 months. The stock traded as high as $705 in Sept. 2012.

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