Tech Earnings Roundup: Who Wins, Loses

Another area where a major transition is under way, and where innovation may offer some relief from hard times, is cloud computing. The creative force here is Amazon.com(AMZN Quote), whose Web services like S3 storage remain a small part of revenue but are nevertheless laying the groundwork for something big later on.

Amazon's third-quarter numbers were mixed: Revenue of $4.26 billion was just shy of the Street's number and profit of 27 cents a share beat estimates by 2 cents but included a benefit from currency re-measurements. But it was the forecast that threw investors for a loop: Revenue this quarter will come in between, oh, $6 billion and $7 billion. Why not just say it will be a 10-figure number?

Amazon's stock fell 13% on that forecast, but made up most of those losses the same day. And it closed Wednesday 14% above its pre-earnings level, so investors are more than forgiving. Investors may have realized that Amazon's vagueness is no worse than Google's practice of not giving earnings guidance.

In the company's defense, the fourth quarter is Amazon's biggest by far, and things could swing either way: Customers could do more shopping on Amazon because of its discounts and free shipping (for the patient), or the recession won't even spare Amazon.

Amazon's user-friendly, discount-driven model was forged in the last recession. That approach may appeal to consumers who are pinching pennies but unwilling to give up on gift-giving altogether.

So as the October earnings season grows quieter, we're seeing a few trends that could continue to play out through a sluggish economy. Consumers and companies haven't cut off tech spending entirely, but they are showing a preference for more forward-thinking technologies, whether it's Google's targeted ads, Apple's superior gadgets or Amazon's bare-bones pricing.

Interestingly, these companies aren't showing any shifts in strategy, but merely fine tuning approaches they have been believing in for several years. That may be the real lesson here: Smarter companies will hold up better in lean times, but there's just a lot less money for the me-toos and also-rans.