Earnings Steal the Show: Tech Weekly

Earnings from several tech companies, including Dell, HP, and salesforce.com were the major tech stories this week.

Author:: Chris Ciaccia
Publish date:: Feb 25, 2012 9:30 AM EST

Earnings from several tech companies, including Dell, HP, and salesforce.com were the major tech stories this week.

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- For the first time in a while,

Apple

(AAPL) - Get 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 Report

(HPQ) - Get Report

and

Salesforce.com

(CRM) - Get Report

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.

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.

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

a potential dividend

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

more cash

than it needs.

TheStreet

live-blogged the

shareholder meeting

, 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 Report

was in the news this week as

Comcast

(CMCSA) - Get Report