Earnings Steal the Show: Tech Weekly
NEW YORK (
) -- For the first time in a while,
Apple
(AAPL) - Get Apple Inc. Report
was not the week's major headline grabber, although the tech giant still featured heavily in the news.
Earnings results from
Dell
(DELL) - Get Dell Technologies Inc Class C Report
,
HP
and
Salesforce.com
(CRM) - Get salesforce.com, inc. Report
garnered plenty of attention this week.
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Dell and HP reported on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, with neither tech giant wowing Wall Street.
On Tuesday,
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
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.
The other PC giant, HP, did not fare well either, as
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
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.
Salesforce.com reported strong earnings
, as more customers took to the cloud during its fiscal fourth quarter.
The San Francisco-based firm reported non-GAAP earnings of 43 cents per share on $632 million in revenue. Wall Street analysts polled by
Thomson Reuters
expected 40 cents per share in earnings on $624 million in revenue.
2012 guidance was also exceptionally strong. Salesforce.com said it expects non-GAAP earnings between $1.58 per share and $1.62 per share on revenue between $2.92 billion and $2.95 billion. Wall Street analysts polled by
Thomson Reuters
expect salesforce.com to report earnings of $1.62 per share on $2.91 billion in revenue.
Salesforce.com shares exploded higher during the week, gaining $11.87, or 9.01%, to close at $143.64 on Friday.
Apple held its shareholder meeting this week, as rumors of a stock-split, and
swirled around the iPhone maker.
Ultimately, Apple made no announcement in terms of returning cash to shareholders, but there is increasing optimism the company will do something in the near future. CEO Tim Cook, for example, recently acknowledged that Apple has
than it needs.
TheStreet
live-blogged the
, with investors voicing heir opinions on what the company should do next.
Apple shares closed the week higher, gaining $6.02 or 1.17% to close at $522.41.
Netflix
(NFLX) - Get Netflix, Inc. Report
was in the news this week as
Comcast
(CMCSA) - Get Comcast Corporation Class A Report
announced it would be launching its own
to compete with Netflix, known as
Streampix.
Streampix will be free to those who get Comcast's triple-play package, or $4.99 per month for customers without the triple-play package.
At the start of the service, Streampix will include content from NBCUniversal (owned by Comcast),
Walt Disney
(DIS) - Get Walt Disney Company Report
, Warner Bros., a division of
Time Warner
(TWX)
, and Sony Pictures, a division of
Sony
.
Netflix shares finished the week lower, falling $1.32 or 1.17% to $111.67.
Next week the tech sector sees earnings from
Priceline.com
(PCLN)
,
Cablevision
(CVC)
and Chinese Internet company
Sina
(SINA) - Get SINA Corp. Report
. Investors should also expect heightened speculation about Apple's iPad 3.
Interested in more on Priceline? See TheStreet Ratings' report card for
this stock
.
Check out our new tech blog,
Tech Trends
. Follow TheStreet Tech
.
--
Written by Chris Ciaccia in New York
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