UPDATE 3-Apple profit rises but margins a letdown

(Adds analyst comment, details)

By Scott Hillis

SAN FRANCISCO, April 23 (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) on Wednesday posted a 36 percent rise in quarterly profit, helped by strong sales of Macintosh computers and iPods, but its lower profit margin and cautious outlook disappointed investors.

Shares of Apple fell 1 percent after the company, known for conservative financial forecasts, gave a profit outlook for its current quarter that was below Wall Street estimates.

Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer also told Reuters he expected gross margin to be similar to the March quarter's 32.9 percent, which was down from 35.1 percent a year ago.

Apple said it expected profit of $1.00 per share on revenue of $7.2 billion for its third quarter ending in June. Wall Street was looking for earnings per share of $1.11 on revenue of $7.17 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

"With the stock up 41 percent since the February low, it is going to take a lot of good news to propel the stock higher," said Robert Stimpson, portfolio manager at Oak Associates, which owns Apple shares.

The company blamed the gross margin slide on lower sales of its Leopard operating system, a price cut on the low-end iPod shuffle, and higher sales at its iTunes online music and movies store, which runs at break-even or slightly profitable.

Some analysts wondered if Apple's conservative forecasts may turn out to be on the mark given the weak U.S. economy and component prices that may be stabilizing after months of declines.

"Last quarter they guided margins to 32 percent and people didn't take it at face value," said Shaw Wu, analyst with American Technology Research. "This time it sounded like it maybe wasn't so conservative after all."

SOARING MAC

For its second quarter ended in March, net profit rose to $1.05 billion, or $1.16 per share, from $770 million, or 87 cents per share, a year ago. Revenue grew by 43 percent to $7.51 billion.

That beat average analyst forecasts for revenue of $6.95 billion and earnings per share of $1.07, according to Reuters Estimates.

Sales of the company's main products exceeded or were at the top end of analysts' estimates, with Mac shipments soaring 51 percent to nearly 2.3 million units.

Mac sales were spurred by what analysts said were sexy new designs, the 'halo effect' from iPods and iPhones, and consumer frustruation with Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) rival Windows Vista operating system.

IPod unit growth of 1 percent, to 10.6 million units, flew in the face of widespread expectations of a modest fall.