On Monday, Apple announced its third quarter 2008 financial results via a conference call with analysts. According to the Apple Core, the company cited a 31% third quarter profit gain and reported a US$1.07 billion profit on strong sales of Macs and iPods. Total sales grew 38% in year-over-year analysis to reach US$7.46 billion and Apple shipped nearly 2.5 million Macs this quarter with sales up 41% from Q3 of 2007 while iPod shipments grew 12 percent to over 11 million.

Unfortunately, Apple's stock was down 10% in after-hours trading due to the company's conservative guidance for the fiscal fourth quarter. Apple forecast fourth-quarter earnings of US$1.00 per share and revenue of US$7.8 billion, compared with average Wall Street targets of US$1.25 per share — out of a range of US$1.13 to US$1.41 — on US$8.3 billion in revenue.

A press release and re-broadcast of the conference call is available over on Apple's investor relations web site.

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