By Daisuke Wakabayashi 

Apple Inc. reported a 7% increase in quarterly profit, amid intensifying competition for mobile devices, and announced increases to its stock buyback and dividend programs.

Apple increased its share repurchase authorization to $90 billion from the $60 billion level announced last year. The company also increased its quarterly dividend by about 8 percent and said it will split its stock 7-for-1 in June.

Chief Executive Tim Cook said the company chose to expand its stock-buyback program by $30 billion because it views its shares as undervalued.

"That should show you how much confidence we have in the future of the company," Mr. Cook said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

The company said it would boost the overall size of its capital return program to more than $130 billion by the end of 2015, up from its previous $100 billion plan.

After more than a decade of remarkable earnings growth, the Cupertino, Calif., technology giant's revenue and profit are flattening and the company is fighting the perception that its best days are behind it. It has promised to expand its product line-up and drive growth as it did with the iPhone and iPad.

Apple said net income was $10.22 billion in its fiscal second quarter ended March 29 versus $9.55 billion in the year-ago period. However, Apple's earnings per share rose to $11.62 from $10.09, because the company's stock repurchase program decreased the pool of total shares.

Revenue rose to $45.6 billion from $43.60 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Analysts, on average, estimated that Apple would post earnings of $10.18 per share on revenue of $43.53 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

Mr. 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 of sales of 38.2 million units. He said the company saw strength across its entire line-up of phone models including the less-expensive 5C and that it was bolstered by strength across many markets including China, Vietnam and Poland.

The iPhone remains Apple's most important product. It is the largest contributor to revenue and is its most profitable hardware product. However, the iPhone is steadily losing market share to smartphones running on Google Inc.'s Android operating system.

In recent years, as rivals rolled out larger-screen displays and lower-price offerings, Apple has held the line on iPhone prices while keeping the screen size relatively small compared to the competition. The Journal has reported that Apple is working on a larger-screen iPhone for release later this year.

The growing competition for smartphones is also hurting Apple's main rival, Samsung Electronics Co. When the company reports earnings next week, Samsung is expected to report a second straight year-on-year decline in quarterly operating profit as demand for its Galaxy smartphones has started to slow.

Write to Daisuke Wakabayashi at Daisuke.Wakabayashi@wsj.com

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024 Click Here for more Apple Charts.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024 Click Here for more Apple Charts.