Microsoft, Amazon Sales Come Up Short

Technology earnings reports for the second quarter have generally come in better than expected so far, but Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) showed late today that headwinds remain.

Microsoft reported sales that were well below analysts’ estimates, sending its shares skidding in after-hours trading, and Amazon’s revenues were below forecasts too.

Microsoft shares fell 8% in after-hours trading after the company reported a 17% year-over-year drop in sales to $13.1 billion; analysts expected $14.37 billion, according to Thomson Reuters. Microsoft’s earnings of 34 cents a share were two cents light of forecasts, but optimism about upcoming product releases could cushion some of the stock’s downside.

“Our business continued to be negatively impacted by weakness in the global PC and server markets,” CFO Chris Liddell said in a statement.

Amazon’s sales were up 14% to $4.65 billion, but that was below $4.69 billion estimates. Earnings of 32 cents a share were a penny better than expected, but the online retailing giant’s shares fell 6% in late trading.

Juniper (NASDAQ: JNPR) fell 5% on its earnings report, even though its results were better than expected.

Stocks soared during the day as traders continued to price in an economic recovery, led higher by strong quarterly results from eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY), AT&T (NYSE: T), VMware (NYSE: VMW), Citrix (NASDAQ: CTXS) and EMC (NYSE: EMC), but SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) and Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) fell on their earnings reports.

The Nasdaq’s winning streak hit 12 days, its longest since 1992, but Microsoft and Amazon threaten to end the streak tomorrow, with Nasdaq 100 futures down more than 1% tonight.

The Nasdaq rose 47 to 1973, the S&P 500 gained 22 to 976, and the Dow jumped 188 to 9069. Volume rose to 6.06 billion shares on the NYSE, and 3.11 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led by a 31-6 margin on the NYSE, and 21-6 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 83% on the NYSE, and 81% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 141-97 on the NYSE, and 131-15 on the Nasdaq.