Microsoft and Amazon
became the latest tech bellwethers to play the Wall Street expectations game after the close on Thursday, and both came up short.
Microsoft reported quarterly revenues of $9.29 billion, well above analysts’ $9 billion estimates, but pro forma earnings of 28 cents a share were a penny shy of estimates. The company’s forward guidance was equally mixed. For the September quarter, Microsoft said it expects earnings of 30 cents a share — two cents below estimates — on revenues of $8.9-9 billion, which topped $8.79 billion forecasts. The stock lost about 2% after hours.
Amazon missed analysts’ estimates for both earnings and revenues. Pro forma earnings of 18 cents a share missed estimates by a penny. Revenues rose 26% year-over-year to $1.39 billion, but that was well under $1.43 billion forecasts. Amazon said it expects revenues of $1.425-1.525 billion for the third quarter, in line with $1.45 billion forecasts. For the full year, Amazon said it expects sales of $6.625-6.925 billion, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.81 billion. Amazon said it plans to continue to offer free shipping despite rising costs. The stock fell 5% after hours.
Also after the close, Gateway beat estimates and announced a deal with Best Buy
. DoubleClick
missed estimates and warned. Broadcom
, Overstock
, webMethods
and Tekelec
beat estimates. VeriSign
met estimates. Digital Insight
, Foundry
and Micromuse
missed estimates. CA
, TriQuint
and Hutchinson
warned.
During the day, stocks clawed back from a steep decline to finish in the green. eBay finished 6 points off its low, turning a steep decline on disappointing earnings into a 1% gain.
The Nasdaq rose 14 to 1889, the S&P 500 climbed 2 to 1096, and the Dow added 4 to 10,050. Volume was unchanged at 1.68 billion shares on the NYSE, and declined to 1.98 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led 19-12 on the NYSE, and 18-13 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 45% on the NYSE, and 68% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 25-86 on the NYSE, and 23-231 on the Nasdaq.
Qualcomm , F5
, Internet Security
, Earthlink
, Cirrus
, Cabot Micro
, Lam Research
, Network Appliance
and Photon
surged on strong earnings. Siebel
, Citrix
and Digital River
rose on their results.
eResearch , Sierra Wireless
, Sybase
and Avici
fell on their reports.
AT&T slipped on news that it plans to pull out of consumer markets.
Broadvision fell on news of an SEC investigation into the company’s restatement of 2001 earnings.
