Apple shattered pessimistic expectations that its growth would dip during the second quarter Wednesday, reporting that revenue had climbed 5 percent, while profits grew 7 percent to top $10 billion.

Despite defying expectations of a miserable quarter, the tech giant’s results also showed that its growth is still slowing as competition in the key smartphone market mount and the sale of iPads and other products dip. The results will likely not be strong enough to quiet investors anxious to see Apple launch new products and jump into new markets.

The “cracks” in Apple’s platform are beginning to show, BCG analyst Colin Gillis said in a research note. The firm needs to make some big moves to stay ahead of consumers who are being increasingly enticed by competitors, particularly smartphones running Android software.

“We see Apple as a provider of premium priced electronics, a lucrative market but one that may not sustain its current market valuation of $473 billion in the years ahead,” Gillis wrote.

The firm did not provide any solutions to these lingering problems Wednesday, but found another way to please investors – cash. Apple, which is notoriously stingy, raised its stock buyback program to $90 billion from $60 billion, raised it stock dividend program and announced a stock split.

That helped send the company’s shares up more than 7 percent in after-hours trading.

Here are the key takeaways for Apple’s second-quarter results:

• The company is confident — and has a lot of money to spend: Apple’s sales climbed to $45 billion during the quarter, compared with $43 billion during the same period last year. Profits reached $10 billion, compared to $9.5 billion last year.

But what really cheered investors was Apple’s plans to raise its stock buyback to $90 billion, a staggering amount – particularly for a company that is often criticized for hoarding cash. Apple initially announced a $10 billion buyback program in 2012. Last April, Apple raised that to $60 billion.

The company is also raising its dividend by nearly 8 percent, to $3.29 per share, for investors who own shares as of May 12. And Apple will also split its stock 7-to-1 in June.

• Sales are good – but not great: For a quarter where Apple didn’t have any major product releases, it sure did well in sales. The company sold 43 million iPhones, up 17 percent from the same period last year. The company reported that 66 percent of its sales were overseas, boosted most by a sales uptick in Japan, although the firm also made gains in what’s arguably the world’s most important smartphone market: China.

The firm also beat expectations on sales of its Mac computers, selling 4.1 million as opposed to predictions of 3.9 million. But sales of Apple’s tablet did disappoint. It sold 16.35 million iPad during the quarter, compared to expectations of about 19 million.