q4

Dell beats Wall Street estimates

Dell's fourth-quarter results were carried by enterprise gear such as servers and networking, but the consumer business tanked.

The company, which recently announced plans to go private in a leveraged buyout, reported earnings of $530 million, or 30 cents a share, on revenue of $14.31 billion, down 11 percent from a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings in the fourth quarter were 40 cents a share.

Wall Street was expecting fourth-quarter earnings of 39 cents a share on revenue of $14.12 billion.

For fiscal 2013, Dell reported earnings of $2.37 billion, or $1.35 a share, on revenue … Read more

Zynga paints 2013 as its 'year of mobilization'

Quarterly earnings calls have a tendency to sprawl. But sitting down today in front the microphones to discuss Zynga's fourth-quarter earnings, the company's brass went out of their way to make sure that at least one consistent message emerged from the chatter.

"2013 will be a year of mobilization for Zynga," said Chief Operating Officer David Ko.

That's not sounding like much of a stretch. Zynga said 72 million of its monthly active users now play games on mobile devices, or almost a quarter of the company's 298 million total monthly users. What's … Read more

Yahoo Q4 subtext: 'Marissa Mayer effect' starts to show up

After a full quarter with Marissa Mayer as its chief executive, Yahoo is showing signs of improvement.

But is it time to believe the turnaround story is for real?

That debate is about to get new life breathed into it after the company released non-GAAP earnings of $272.27 million, or 32 cents per share, in the fourth quarter on sales of $1.35 billion. Taking charges into account, Yahoo earned 23 cents per share. The consensus analyst estimate was for 27 cents per share, minus expenses connected with Yahoo's exit from South Korea. Revenue this quarter was expected … Read more

Whitman proclaims new products will return HP to 'greatness'

With Hewlett-Packard's stock price going south in a hurry, CEO Meg Whitman tried to advance the argument that HP's 'return to greatness' will based on great products.

"In terms of investments, we are very focused on product, product, product," said CEO Meg Whitman in today's earnings conference call, via a transcript provided by Seeking Alpha.

Whitman continued. "Great companies return to greatness on the basis of product."

She went on to cite products like its "Gen8" servers, Moonshot servers, and new lines of PCs, printers, and services.

Both Whitman and chief … Read more

Analysts turn negative on Windows 8 prospects

Windows 8 got pummeled today by analysts, who cited it as a major factor in tepid PC growth.

The launch of a new Microsoft operating system rarely, if ever, goes smoothly. But Windows 8 is having an especially bumpy takeoff.

The first reason Deutsche Bank listed today for cutting its PC estimates this quarter was a "lackluster initial uptake of Windows 8," in a research note from analyst Chris Whitmore.

After citing the impact of amorphous factors like "macro weakness" and the "fiscal cliff," Whitmore continues.

As in past cycles we expect the introduction … Read more

Apple earnings: $36B revenue, $8.2B profit, 26.9M iPhones, 14M iPads

Apple's knack for surprises held up in its quarterly earnings today.

The company narrowly beat expectations on revenue, but missed on profits.

Buoyed by sales of the iPhone and iPad, the company reported revenue of $36 billion and profits of $8.2 billion, or $8.67 per share, for the quarter ended September 29.

Wall Street expected Apple to report $35.80 billion in sales, with earnings per share of $8.75. Apple's own forecast for the quarter was $34 billion, with earnings per share of $7.65.

"We're very proud to end a fantastic fiscal … Read more

Apple earnings preview: All eyes on iPhone, iPad

Apple may disappoint investors tomorrow with fiscal fourth-quarter results that show weaker sales of its key iPad and iPhone product lines.

Wall Street is expecting Apple to report $36.27 billion in sales, with earnings per share of $8.91. Apple's own forecast for the quarter is $34 billion, with earnings per share of $7.65. Much of that tally is expected to come from the iPhone and iPad, which together made up 72 percent of the company's revenue last quarter.

This is the first quarter to include sales of Apple's iPhone 5, but only a few … Read more

What's next for Apple? All eyes on the holidays

Apple's rare earnings miss yesterday, driven by a falloff in iPhone sales, dinged the stock and led Wall Street analysts to reassess their expectations and financial models for Apple's current quarter.

The situation is an odd sort of problem. Sure, iPhone sales dipped in the latest quarter -- selling 26 million versus expectations of 29 million -- but the company stressed that its fan-base is simply putting off buying new products until the new version (read: the iPhone 5) comes out.

And that -- along with many other product upgrades -- leads us to look ahead not to … Read more

Sprint could have Motorola Photon 4G successor

Sprint is looking to follow last year's Motorola Photon 4G with a 4G LTE variant, according to new rumors surfacing today. Called, for now, the Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE (what a mouthful!), the Android smartphone isn't dropping any spec hints, though history may offer clues.

At the time of its arrival last year, the Photon 4G was one of the top handsets on the market. Assuming Motorola and Sprint look to do the same with this model, I'd anticipate a display with 720p resolution and a high-end processor.… Read more

Nvidia targeting dual-core phones that undercut iPhone 4S

Nvidia is eying a market for inexpensive dual-core smartphones that underprice the iPhone 4S by a wide margin.

That phone segment, which the graphics chipmaker calls the "1,000 RMB phone" in China, will use Nvidia's dual-core Tegra 2 processor paired with a 3G modem, according to Chief Executive Officer Jen-Hsun Huang, who spoke during the earnings conference call this afternoon. RMB refers to the Chinese currency.

RMB 1,000 is about 75 percent less than the price of an iPhone 4S, which currently retails for RMB 4,988 in China.

"That's a pretty exciting … Read more