Apple Computer continued its winning ways after the close on Wednesday, but Advanced Micro Devices
didn’t do much to bolster confidence in the chip sector.
Apple’s earnings of 17 cents a share beat estimates by two cents, and revenues were up 30% to $2.01 billion, topping $1.94 billion forecasts. The company shipped 860,000 iPods, in the middle of the estimate range. Shares of Apple climbed 3% after hours.
AMD met earnings estimates of 9 cents a share, while revenues jumped 95% to $1.26 billion, ahead of $1.24 billion forecasts. Gross margins of 38% beat consensus estimates of 37.7%, but the company’s guidance was less than encouraging: “Economic and industry conditions remain uncertain and continue to make it difficult to forecast product demand,” the company said in a statement. “In the third quarter of 2004, AMD expects sales to increase in each of its two major businesses and total sales to increase moderately.” Shares of AMD were unchanged after hours after falling 5% during the day.
Also after the close, SanDisk showed why Intel
covets the flash memory market by reporting blow-out results. QLogic
came in light on revenues.
Stocks fell during the day as investors were unnerved by rising inventories and falling margins at Intel, which raised fears of an inventory glut. Shares of Intel plunged 10.6% on the day.
The Nasdaq lost 16 to 1934, the S&P 500 slipped 3 to 1111, and the Dow declined 38 to 10,208. Volume rose to 1.46 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.11 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led 17-15 on the NYSE, and 19-11 on the Nasdaq. Downside volume was 60% on the NYSE, and 69% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 98-42 on the NYSE, and 28-133 on the Nasdaq.
Juniper Networks soared 12% after blowing past analysts’ estimates.
Imation plunged 21% on a warning.
MCI edged higher as it emerged from bankruptcy and announced a deal with HP
.
Nokia and IBM
declined ahead of their earnings on Thursday. Nokia reports in the morning, and IBM after the close.
Ericssson rose 3% on a deal with Vimpel
.
Intersil fell 4% on its results.
