(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)Late on Wednesday, iPhone maker Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) said its first quarter net income rose to $1.61 billion, or $1.78 a share, from $1.58 billion, or $1.76 a share in the corresponding quarter a year ago. Analysts had projected earnings of $1.40 a share. Revenue rose 5.8% to $10.2 billion, topping the Wall Street estimates of $9.74 billion. Sales of Mac computers jumped 9% to 2.52 million units while ipod sales climbed 3% to 22.7 million units. Analysts had estimated sales of around 2.5 million Mac units and 18.5 million iPod units. iPhone sales totaled 4.3 million units, slightly below the consensus estimates of 5 million units. "Even in these economically challenging times, we are incredibly pleased to report our best quarterly revenue and earnings in Apple history," Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs said in a statement. Looking ahead, for the fiscal second quarter, Apple expects to earn 90 cents to $1 a share, on revenue of $7.6 billion to $8 billion. Analysts on an average currently expect company to report earnings of $1.12 a share on revenue of $8.1 billion for the second quarter. "Steve is still the chief executive officer, and he plans to remain involved in major strategic decisions," Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's chief financial office, said when asked about Jobs' role at Apple. Shares of the company jumped over 9% in after hours trade.

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE: AB) announced that its fourth quarter net income slipped to $97.06 million or 29 cents per unit, from $309.73 million or $1.06 per unit in the same period a year ago. Quarterly revenue fell to $580.52 million from $1.17 billion in the prior-year quarter. Analysts on average were looking for earnings of 19 cents per unit. For the full fiscal year, net income tumbled to $247.6 million, or $2.81 per unit, from $381.3 million, or $4.32 per unit. "Capital markets plummeted during the final quarter of 2008, leading to substantially negative investment returns for clients," said Chairman and Chief Executive Peter S. Kraus, in a statement. "Absolute and relative investment performance for the full year was poor, the result of our investments in non-US markets and, separately, in sectors with exposure to global credit risks across most of our investment services."

Amdocs Ltd. (NYSE: DOX), a leading provider of CRM and billing software to telecommunications and cable companies reported that its fiscal first-quarter earnings declined 22% to $74.2 million, or 35 cents a share, compared with $95.7 million, or 44 cents a share in the comparable quarter last year. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 55 cents a share, matching the average analyst estimates. Sales rose to $753.8 million from $742.3 million a year ago. Analysts expected the company to report revenue of $792.2 million for the quarter. "The first quarter of fiscal 2009 was a difficult start for Amdocs as macroeconomic conditions continued to worsen and sales cycles lengthened across our business," Dov Baharav, the company's chief executive, said in a statement. He added that "we expect the market will remain difficult until global spending trends in communications and credit market conditions stabilize." Looking forward, the company forecasts fiscal second-quarter adjusted earnings of 47 cents to 51 cents on sales of $700 million to $720 million. Street analysts currently project earnings of 57 cents a share on $792.8 million. Amdocs lost over 8% in extended trading.