Palm Slapped on Weak Guidance

But its forecast implies an earnings range of about $1.03 to $1.10 a share on sales ranging from $1.89 billion to $1.97 billion assuming its interest income and share count rise modestly.

On this basis for the full year, analysts had called for $1.03 a share in profit on sales of $1.83 billion. For all of its just-completed fiscal year, the company earned $336.2 million, or $3.19 a share, on sales of $1.58 billion, thanks to a nearly $220 million tax benefit.

Without the tax benefit, stock-options expenses and other charges, the company would have earned $88.5 million, or 85 cents a share.