earnings

Good news on mobile, Zuckerberg! Now answer these six questions

Mark Zuckerberg and his top lieutenants of course had plenty to say about the social network's fourth-quarter performance on yesterday's earnings call with investors and analysts. But what they didn't say proves more telling.

When it came to Facebook's newfound health on mobile, they shared lots. So much, in fact, that it obscured hot topics such as the engagement potential of the just-rolled-out Graph Search; Facebook Gifts; and the Instagram backlash over the terms of service mess.

Intentional oversights? Absolutely. Wise withholdings? The jury's still out as investors consider -- maybe guess is a better … Read more

Facebook moving fast on mobile, and spending tons on everything

Risk. What risk? Facebook's ballooning mobile audience is proving to be anything but a bubble-bursting group. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg today told analysts that the social network's laser-focus on mobile is paying off handsomely -- the result, in part, of accidental good fortune.

"There's no argument, Facebook is a mobile company," Zuckerberg told investors after the company reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 17 cents and revenue of $1.59 billion, which was slightly ahead of what Wall Street had expected.

Yes, there's apparently no place like mobile for Facebook. The company said … Read more

Zuckerberg is adamant: Facebook is not building a phone

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg didn't mince words when he reiterated to analysts and investors that the social network has absolutely no intention of building its own mobile phone.

"We're not going to build a phone," he said during the social network's earnings call Wednesday. "It's not the right strategy for us to build one integrated system...Let's say we sell 10 million units -- that would be 1 percent of users. Who cares for us?"

I can think of plenty of people who care -- investors in particular. The company'… Read more

Facebook by the numbers: 1.06 billion monthly active users

Facebook executives threw out lots of numbers during the company's earnings call today, showing the network's steady growth in users and how much money those users bring to Facebook.

The social network is now at 1.06 billion monthly active users. In addition to a 25 percent increase in monthly users from last year and a 28 percent rise in daily users, Facebook saw 57 percent growth in mobile monthly users. Facebook didn't say how many daily active users on mobile it had, but did say that, for the first time, this number exceeded the number of … Read more

Smartphone growth slowing? Not according to Qualcomm

What smartphone market weakness?

Many questions have emerged about slowing growth in the global phone market, but chipmaker Qualcomm doesn't appear to be having any problems.

The San Diego company, which helped popularize the CDMA technology used in cell phones, today reported record results for its fiscal first quarter. It also boosted its expectations for fiscal 2013 revenue and earnings and provided a better-than-anticipated forecast for the current period.

Qualcomm Chief Executive Paul Jacobs noted that revenue, adjusted earnings, and chipset shipments all set records in the quarter ended Dec. 30. He attributed the results to "growing global … Read more

Facebook beats Wall Street estimates; mobile gets traction

Facebook reported fourth-quarter earnings that handily beat Wall Street's expectations.

The social network came in with adjusted earnings per share of 17 cents and revenue that grew 40 percent to $1.59 billion compared to the year-earlier quarter. The company also reported 1.06 billion monthly active users and 618 million daily active users (DAUs); both figures are up by more than 25 percent against last year. On mobile, Facebook grew monthly actives to 680 million people, an increase of 57 percent year-over-year. Mobile DAUs exceeded web DAUs for the first time, the company said.

More important, Facebook's … Read more

Lenovo's profit soars to record $205 million

Chinese PC giant Lenovo said its third fiscal quarter, ended December 31, was its best ever, with record numbers for both sales and profit at US$9.4 billion and US$205 million, respectively.

The company said in a statement today that the US$9.4 billion in revenue was a 12 percent increase from the year before, while third quarter profit leaped 34 percent year over year to reach US$205 million.

Gross profit for the third quarter increased 15 percent year over year to US$1.1 billion, while operating profit climbed 26 percent to US$243 million.… Read more

LG logs a loss on EU fine, but sees smartphone strength

LG Electronics has posted losses within its fourth-quarter 2012 results due to a heavy fine imposed by the European Union over price-fixing allegations.

The world's second-largest television set maker by revenue posted its Q4 2012 financial report today, detailing its first loss-making quarter in a year. Net losses accounted for 468 billion won ($429 million) in the fourth quarter of 2012, in comparison to a loss of 112 billion won in 2011.

Consolidated revenues currently stand at 13.50 trillion won ($12.4 billion).

LG also posted an operating profit of 107 billion won ($98.84 million) in the … Read more

Time for Zuckerberg to unwrap his plans for Facebook Gifts

When Facebook reports its fourth-quarter earnings today, investors will be hyper-focused on how much progress the social network is making on mobile. The rapid shift to mobile has, of course, been the key part of the Facebook story since the company went public in May. First mobile was a giant problem; then CEO Mark Zuckerberg artfully reframed the problem as a giant opportunity.

And that opportunity extends to Facebook Gifts, which Facebook rolled out to all U.S. users near the end of the fourth quarter. Of all the products that Facebook unveiled in late 2012 -- and there were many … Read more