THE WEEK AHEAD: Earnings onslaught
Investors will have plenty to mull over following the three-day weekend when dozens of technology firms report quarterly earnings next week. Intel, Microsoft and Apple are just a few of the names expected to post disappointing results.
It’s no coincidence the Nasdaq, save this week’s decent rally, has fallen on hard times following profit warnings from every nook and cranny of the technology sector.
Investors will want to see just how bad this quarter’s numbers were, but they’re going to be more interested in the guidance provided by these bellwethers.
Blaming "recent large cancellations by customers worldwide,” the chipmaking giant told investors to expect around $8.7 billion.
First Call Corp. consensus expects Intel to earn 38 cents a share in the quarter.
Last quarter, Intel topped analysts’ estimates, earning $2.9 billion, or 41 cents a share, on sales of $8.7 billion.
Analysts reduced their consensus estimate from 68 cents a share to 55 cents a share following the profit warning.
It too said fourth-quarter sales will be flat sequentially, coming in around $1.2 billion.
In the third quarter, AMD earned $219.3 million, or 64 cents a share, on sales of $1.2 billion.
Microsoft told analysts it now expects sales of between $6.4 billion to $6.5 billion in the quarter, roughly 5 percent less than previously forecast.
Microsoft also revised its full-year fiscal 2001 expectations, projecting about 5 percent less than anticipated. For the year, Microsoft estimates revenues between $25.2 billion and $25.4 billion and earnings per share in the $1.80 to $1.82 range.
Last quarter, the software giant slipped past analysts’ estimates when it raked in $2.58 billion, or 46 cents a share, on sales of $5.8 billion.
First Call Corp. consensus pegs Sun for a profit of 16 cents a share in its second quarter on sales of $5.3 billion.
Last quarter, Sun hurdled the Street estimate, earning $510 million, or 30 cents a share, on sales of $5.05 billion.
The PC maker prepared the Street for the worst earlier this quarter, predicting a loss of between $225 million to $250 million, or roughly 65 cents a share, on sales of around $1 billion.
It also cut its fiscal 2001 sales target to $6 billion to $6.5 billion, down at least 13 percent from the company's previous target of $7.5 billion to $8 billion in sales. That earlier target was itself reduced from prior expectations.
Last quarter, Apple missed analysts’ reduced estimates when it pocketed $108 million, or 30 cents a share, on sales of $1.87 billion.
eBay made $19.1 million, or 7 cents a share, on sales of $113.4 million last quarter.
Analysts are projecting total sales of $125.5 million this quarter.