
Dell's in the Doldrums: Tech Weekly
NEW YORK (
) --Earnings season is winding down, with a few notable names reporting this week.
Dell
(DELL) - Get Report
offered a bleak tone, while
Cisco
(CSCO) - Get Report
was slightly more upbeat on the state of its business.
The Round Rock, Texas-based PC maker reported adjusted
of 39 cents a share, missing the
Thomson Reuters
analyst consensus of 40 cents.
Dell's revenue for the quarter was $13.7 billion, 11% lower than the year-earlier quarter and short of the $13.89 billion analysts polled by
Thomson Reuters
were expecting. The top line was pressured by falling desktop and mobility revenue.
> > Bull or Bear? Vote in Our Poll
Dell is in the process of turning itself around, as it becomes
, but the process is taking longer than expected.
Shares of Dell lost 5.9% over the course of the week to close at $8.84.
Cisco, on the other hand, beat
and sounded upbeat during its conference call relative to expectations.
The networking giant reported non-GAAP earnings of $2.57 billion, or 48 cents a share, on revenue of $11.88 billion, up from a year-ago equivalent profit of $2.32 billion, or 43 cents a share, on revenue of $11.27 billion. Analysts polled by
Thomson Reuters
were looking for earnings of 46 cents a share on revenue of $11.77 billion.
Cisco Earnings: Live Blog Recap
Cisco provided healthy guidance, predicting revenue between $11.9 billion and $12.1 billion and earnings of 47 to 48 cents a share, as
the company's long-term strategy
seems to be working. The current consensus view calls for revenue of $12.06 billion and earnings of 48 cents a share.
Cisco enjoyed a strong week, gaining 6.96% to close at $17.99.
Aside from earnings, executives made the majority of the news this week in tech, as some key managers quit, and one made her first snafu since taking over a company.
Yahoo!
(YHOO)
CEO Marissa Mayer experienced her
, as the company's fantasy football platform crashed Sunday, frustrating users.
Mayer came under attack on
, receiving several tweets from users expressing their disappointment (including yours truly), as they could not set their lineups in time for Sunday's
NFL
games.
Yahoo! offered an
to users on Wednesday, sending out an email offering an explanation, as well as ways to make up for the outage.
Shares of Yahoo! gained 3.5% this past week to finish at $17.86.
Microsoft
(MSFT) - Get Report
was also in the headlines, as Windows boss Steven Sinofsky
, echoing what happened with
Apple
(AAPL) - Get Report
and
.
The software giant's CEO Steve Ballmer thanked Sinofsky for his contributions, adding, "To continue this success it is imperative that we continue to drive alignment across all Microsoft teams, and have more integrated and rapid development cycles for our offerings."
In the press release, Sinofsky said, "It is impossible to count the blessings I have received over my years at Microsoft. I am humbled by the professionalism and generosity of everyone I have had the good fortune to work with at this awesome company."
There are several rumors as to why Sinofsky left the company, including poor Windows 8 reception, a power play by Ballmer, or perhaps even a
.
Shares of Microsoft fell 8.0% this week to close at $26.52.
Zynga
(ZNGA) - Get Report
also lost members of its executive team, as the company continues to deal with a
.
Dave Wehner resigned as chief financial officer on Tuesday, joining
(FB) - Get Report
in a senior finance capacity.
Zynga also lost another member of its finance team this week, treasurer Mike Gupta, who left for
.
TheStreet
Gupta in March, talking about the company's declining share price, gambling and other topics.
Despite the losses, Zynga shares zoomed 4.2% higher this week to close at $2.21.
Finally, it wouldn't be a week in tech without news from
Apple
(AAPL) - Get Report
. Supplies of the iPhone 5 are still constrained, as demand for the device is exceptionally strong, and Apple's manufacturers can't make it fast enough.
Supplies have
, as Apple's Web site showed a wait time of two to three weeks, down from three to four weeks.
Terry Gou, the chairman of
Foxconn
, Apple's Chinese manufacturer, spoke about the difficulties of meeting the incredible demand for the iPhone 5. "It's not easy to make the iPhones. We are falling short of meeting the huge demand," he told reporters.
There were also worries that Apple's relationship with
Samsung
was getting worse, as Samsung reportedly hiked prices for its application processors (AP) by 20%. Those rumors turned out to be
, with a Samsung official denying the claim. This makes sense, as Apple signs long-term deals for its components at a set rate, and those contracts are very difficult to break.
Apple shares fell 3.5% this week to close at $527.68.
Next week we slow down as the market gets ready for Thanksgiving. It's a light week with regard to earnings. We get results from
Brocade
(BRCD)
,
HP
(HPQ) - Get Report
and
Salesforce.com
(CRM) - Get Report
.
Enjoy your weekend.
Interested in more on Broadcom? See TheStreet Ratings' report card for
this stock
.
-- Written by Chris Ciaccia in New York
.
>Contact by
.
Follow @Commodity_Bull









