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Apple gives the best answer to the doubters who say its best days are behind it!

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By Noel Young, Correspondent

April 23, 2014 | 3 min read

Apple socked it to the doubters yesterday with a 7 per cent increase in quarterly profit and a $30 billion stock-buyback programme because, said CEO Tim Cook, the company's shares are undervalued.

Cook shocks the doubters!

"That should show you how much confidence we have in the future of the company," Cook told The Wall Street Journal.

Apple raised its share repurchase authorisation to $90 billion from the $60 billion level announced last year. The company also lifted its quarterly dividend by about 8% and said it would split its stock 7-for-1 in June.

Apple shares jumped more than 7% in after-hours trading. Investor Carl Icahn, who has been pushing the company to share more of its cash holdings with shareholders, tweeted that he was "extremely pleased."

Apple's revenue and profit have been flattening and the company is "fighting the perception that its best days are behind it," said the WSJ. It has promised to expand its product lineup and drive growth as it did with the iPhone and iPad.

The financial results exceeded analysts' expectation. Cook pointed to the iPhone as an area of strength for the company.

Apple said it sold 43.7 million iPhone units in the three months ended March 29, far surpassing analysts' expectations for sales of 38.2 million units.

He said the company saw strength across its entire lineup of phone models including the less-expensive 5C and that it was bolstered by strength across many markets, including China, Vietnam and Poland.

Overall, for the second quarter, Apple's net income rose to $10.22 billion from $9.55 billion in the year-ago period. However, Apple's per-share earnings jumped to $11.62 from $10.09 because the company's stock repurchase program decreased the pool of total shares.

The i-phone is the largest contributor to revenue and is Apple's most profitable hardware product. However, it is steadily losing market share to smartphones running on Google 's Android operating system.

Apple has held the line on iPhone prices while keeping the screen size relatively small compared with the competition but said the Journal, Apple is working on a larger-screen iPhone for release later this year.

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