Apple Inc reported results that blew past Wall Street's expectations, boosted by robust sales of Mac computers, sending its shares 3 percent higher.

Apple's stellar financial performance in the June quarter helped ease investor fears, and may silence a chorus of critics who have been hammering the company over its handling of the iPhone 4 Antennagate controversy revolving around complaints about signal loss on the new gadget.

These numbers will go a long way to make people forget about any antenna issues, said Edward Jones analyst Bill Kreher.

Although the iPhone and iPad generated most of the headlines, it was the Mac computer that helped make the quarter for the company.

Apple sold 3.47 million Macs in the quarter, up 33 percent from the year-ago period and better than the 3.2 million Wall Street had expected.

It reported net income for the fiscal third quarter ended June 26 of $3.25 billion, or $3.51 a share, up from $1.83 billion, or $2.01 a share, in the year-ago period.

Analysts on average were expecting earnings of $3.11 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose to $15.7 billion, well ahead of Wall Street's forecast for $14.75 billion.

For the current quarter, it estimated earnings of $3.44 a share on revenue of $18 billion.

Shares of Cupertino, California-based Apple closed up 2.6 percent at $251.89 on Nasdaq and rose to $259 in extended trading.

This is one of the few times in recent memory that Apple's guidance has been ahead of the Street, at a time when investors were getting concerned the iPhone 4 antenna issues could hamper sales, said Oppenheimer & Co analyst Yair Reiner. Apple's sending a strong signal it sees things differently.

(Reporting by Gabriel Madway; Editing by Richard Chang)

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