Apple’s iPhone has yet to have much of an effect on Research In Motion, if the company’s latest quarterly results are any indication.
RIM reported better than expected quarterly results and guidance late Wednesday, and its subscriber growth was pretty impressive too.
RIM’s earnings of $412.5 million, or 72 cents a share, more than doubled from the year-ago quarter and were two cents better than Wall Street analysts expected, and revenues of $1.88 billion were up 102% and also ahead of forecasts. 2.18 million net new subscribers was at the high end of forecasts, and the company topped it all off with current quarter guidance that was well ahead of expectations.
Investors rewarded the company with a 5% gain in after-hours trading.
Micron’s loss of $777 million, or $1.01 a share, and sales of $1.36 billion were below both estimates and the company’s year-ago performance, even after factoring out a $463 million write-off. The company blamed a sharp decline in flash memory prices for the results. Still, the company’s shares edged higher after hours after gaining 6.5% during the day, as investors were encouraged by the company’s cost savings and some recent pricing stability.
Stocks pulled back modestly after Tuesday’s big gains, as a downbeat assessment of the economy from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke gave investors little reason to add to gains. A better than expected ADP employment report fueled hopes that U.S. government jobs data on Friday also might come in better than expected. Analysts expect a loss of 50,000 jobs for March.
Applied Materials, Baidu, Amazon, Oracle, eBay and AMD were among the stocks posting modest gains.
Nortel was up 8% on its latest wireless plans.
Verifone shares fell on an earnings restatement and the resignation of its CFO.
The Nasdaq slipped 1 to 2361, the S&P gave back 2 to 1367, and the Dow lost 48 to 12,605. Volume declined to 4.26 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.06 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led by a 19-13 margin on the NYSE, and 15-13 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 58% on the NYSE, and 45% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 52-22 on the NYSE, and 52-89 on the Nasdaq.
