AAPL, the symbol by which Apple stocks were traded on the stock market, soared. This was after Apple reported higher-than-expected quarterly results.

Apple stocks fell 20% since January. Now, however, there was a 5% increase in stocks. It rose to US$437.94. At the Nasdaq, APPL closed at US$418.99.

A primary driver for this increase in APPL was sales in iPhone. According to Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer, iPhone sales exceeded estimates by Wall Street. During the third quarter, there was a 51% increase in US shipments.

There was a total of 31.2 million units sold last quarter. This volume exceeded the estimate of 26 million. Also, Wall Street forecasted Apple's earnings per share to be US$7.32. However, the company reported earnings at US$6.9 billion, equal to US$7.47 per share.

"The iPhone number should provide some comfort to investors who were worried about smartphone demand," Shannon Cross of Cross Research said. "That's one of the reason the stock is up. Expectations were not strong for the quarter."