Apple shares soared Thursday and closed up over 8 percent as the company reported earnings that beat Wall Street's estimates.

Apple posted a revenue of $45.6 billion and a profit of $10.2 billion for the second quarter, ending in March. Analysts had predicted a revenue of $43.5 billion.

"We're very proud of our quarterly results, especially our strong iPhone sales and record revenue from services," CEO Tim Cook said. "We're eagerly looking forward to introducing more new products and services that only Apple could bring to market."

Thursday's closing price of $566.81 is near its 52-week high of $575.14 and investors looking to get in on Apple got even better news. Apple announced it will conduct a 7-to-1 stock split, making the stock accessible to all types of investors.

"We believe our current stock price does not reflect the size of the company," Cook said on a conference call with analysts. The buyback shows "our strong confidence in the future of Apple."

Existing shareholders will be pleased too, they'll get six additional shares for each share they currently own. The stock split will occur in June.

Sales of the popular iPhone continue to be successful. In the quarter, Apple says it sold 43.7 million iPhones. That also beats Wall Street estimates. Analysts estimated 38.5 million iPhones would be sold in the second quarter.

Additionally, Apple released up-to-date numbers of sales of Apple TV. So far, there have been 20 million boxes sold. In total, the revenue in box sales and purchased content on the boxes is $1 billion.

Despite the success with the iPhone, Apple is still seeing itself as second place in the smartphone market. Android phones will own a 50 percent smartphone market share compared to iPhone's 40.5 percent share.

Customers seem to be hooked on the big screens offered by Samsung. Those phones are 5.1 inches in size and the iPhone is only 4 inches. But, analysts do expect a new iPhone with a comparable screen this fall.

Apple's next major event is in June at the Worldwide Developer's Conference in San Francisco. This could be the perfect time for the announcement of new Apple products, like a bigger iPhone. Or, could a smartband be announced?