06:33 AM EDT, 10/31/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Apple ( AAPL ) shares rose early Friday as the technology giant said it expects revenue in the ongoing key holiday quarter to rise by double digits year over year, while the company reported better-than-expected results in the prior three-month period.

The iPhone maker anticipates revenue in its fiscal first quarter to grow by 10% to 12% from the prior-year period, Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh said during a late Thursday earnings call, according to a FactSet transcript. The current consensus on FactSet is for sales of $134.63 billion for the quarter. The stock was up 2% in the most recent premarket activity.

The guidance is "significantly ahead" of Wall Street's estimate, driven by the outlook for the company's flagship iPhone product, as Apple ( AAPL ) expects the China region to return to growth driven by the iPhone 17, Wedbush Securities said in a client note. The brokerage maintained its outperform rating on Apple's ( AAPL ) stock and raised its 12-month price target to $320 from $310.

Revenue for the iPhone is projected to increase by double digits in the December quarter, while the company expects to "face a very difficult compare against the M4 MacBook Pro, Mac mini and iMac launches in the year ago quarter," according to Parekh. Services revenue growth rate is estimated to be similar to the 14% year-over-year gain the group reported in fiscal 2025, Parekh said.

"We are incredibly excited about the strength we're seeing across our products and services, and we expect the December quarter's revenue to be the best ever for the company and the best ever for iPhone," Chief Executive Tim Cook said on the call.

Gross margin for the first quarter is pegged at 47% to 48%, including an estimated $1.4 billion headwind related to tariff costs, Parekh said on the call. Operating expenses are expected to be between $18.1 billion and $18.5 billion, as the tech giant substantially increases its artificial intelligence investments, the CFO added.

For the three months through Sept. 27, Apple's ( AAPL ) net income jumped to $1.85 a share from $0.97 the year before, surpassing the Street's view for $1.78. Overall sales climbed to $102.47 billion from $94.93 billion, ahead of the average analyst estimate of $102.23 billion.

"We grew in the vast majority of markets we track and had September quarter revenue records in dozens of markets," Cook said on the call. "We also set a September quarter revenue record in emerging markets and an all-time revenue record in India."

Sales for iPhone advanced 6% to $49.03 billion, driven by the iPhone 16 model, Parekh said. Mac revenue increased 13% to $8.73 billion, while iPad remained nearly flat at $6.95 billion. Wearables, home and accessories sales edged down to $9.01 billion from $9.04 billion.

Services revenue rose 15% year over year to $28.75 billion. "We set many all-time revenue records, including payment services, where we reached an all-time revenue record, and saw a double-digit growth year-over-year on Apple Pay active users," Parekh told analysts.

Apple ( AAPL ) logged revenue growth in all of its geographic regions, apart from China, which recorded sales of $14.49 billion versus $15.03 billion in the 2024 quarter.

"The China region did see a return to negative growth of (3.5%) in the quarter, but Apple ( AAPL ) importantly expects to see the region return to growth in the key December quarter as the standard iPhone 17 model is seeing strong demand, as government subsidies are stimulating demand for the entire iPhone 17 lineup." Wedbush said in its note.