Earnings Steal the Show: Tech Weekly

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- For the first time in a while, Apple(AAPL) was not the week's major headline grabber, although the tech giant still featured heavily in the news.

Earnings results from Dell(DELL), HP(HPQ) and Salesforce.com(CRM) garnered plenty of attention this week.

Dell and HP reported on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, with neither tech giant wowing Wall Street.

On Tuesday, Dell reported earnings of 51 cents per share on $16.01 billion in revenue. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected Dell to report earnings of 52 cents per share on $15.96 billion in revenue. The company blamed a less profitable mix of hard disk drives for the earnings miss, as it tries to stay relevant.

While Dell said 2012 earnings would come in above the $2.13 per share it earned in 2011, first-quarter revenue is expected to be extremely weak, declining 7% year-over-year to approximately $14.9 billion. Analysts expect revenue of $15.17 billion and earnings of 47 cents per share.

Dell shares finished the week up 3 cents, or 0.17%, to $17.43.

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The other PC giant, HP, did not fare well either, as quarterly revenue missed Wall Street expectations by $700 million.

HP reported first-quarter earnings of 92 cents per share on revenue of $30 billion. Thomson Reuters polled analysts who expected earnings of 87 cents per share on revenue of $30.7 billion. In addition to the revenue miss, HP's guidance disappointed. HP said it sees operating earnings of 88 to 91 cents per share, below the 95 cents per share Wall Street is expecting.

Nonetheless, HP CEO Meg Whitman believes the company can turn around, but warned that this will take time. "It's not easy work and it's not a quick fix, but it holds the potential to improve the way we operate and execute, and it simply has to be done," Whitman said during an earnings call with analysts.

HP shares finished the week down 41 cents, or 1.52%, at $26.64.