Apple released its first post-Steve Jobs (News - Alert) Q4 results on Oct 18th. And, the results look very un-Jobsian, i.e., not passing analyst muster despite blowing past company guidance, which Wall Street always discounts based on Apple’s (News - Alert) past efforts at managing expectations. However, the stock is the thing, and upon the release, the stock was down seven percent from its closing price of $422.23 per share, although leading up to the conference call with management it had recovered a bit.

The tale of the tape:

Clearly based on yesterday’s nice numbers from IBM (News - Alert) but poor guidance as to prospects for the next quarter, this is not sitting well.

I’m not sure what all the doom and gloom is about. I see a solid quarter with iPads beating expectations. Mac sales are solid and even iPods are not trending down as quickly as might have been foreseen. In addition, it’s hard to complain about an all important beating, albeit by a hair, on gross margin. 

Here is link to press release.  Talk about shining up the Apple!

The call will be interesting. Check back with us soon.

Peter Bernstein is a technology industry veteran, having worked in multiple capacities with several of the industry's biggest brands, including Avaya, Alcatel-Lucent, Telcordia, HP, Siemens, Nortel (News - Alert), France Telecom, and others, and having served on the Advisory Boards of 15 technology startups. To read more of Peter's work, please visit his columnist page.