Apple stock is spiking after a decisive earnings beat

Apple of course was never going away, but it did have a rough go of it last year. Sales have been lagging–especially for the iPhone–due, in part, to increased competition in China. This caused the company’s stock to plummet last fall.

But the computing giant’s latest earnings report show that things may be looking up. Here are a few of the highlights:

Apple’s revenue this past quarter hit $58.02 billion, compared to the $57.5 billion analysts expected. This same quarter last year, the company recorded $61.1 billion in revenue.
The company posted $2.46 earnings per share, compared to the $2.36 expectation.
Quarterly iPhone sales hit $31.05 billion; analysts expected $30.5 billion. The devices’ sales this quarter last year were $38 billion.
Apple posted $11.45 billion in revenue for its services, compared to the $11.2 billion analyst expectation. Services represented $9.2 billion in revenue this quarter last year.
It estimates revenue next quarter to be between $52.5 billion and $54.5 billion; analysts pinned its guidance at $52.2 billion.

Overall, this is a big beat. While revenue is down around 5% from what it was a year ago, Apple still handily exceeded overall projections. The lag in sales, it seems, wasn’t as bad as predicted–and the company’s services segment is showing impressive gains. Further, the improved guidance indicates that the company sees better growth on the horizon.

Investors seem happy with these results, too. Apple stock is spiking in after-hours trading. It closed at $200.67 and is currently up over 5% at $210.99.

We’ll see if the stock will continue on this upward trajectory, and if the company has any surprises in store at its earnings call.