The week ahead: Tech companies land on earnings hot seat
Earnings will take center stage this week as a series of technology companies report numbers and offer their expectations for the upcoming year.
Earnings will take center stage this week as a series of technology companies report numbers and offer their expectations for the upcoming year.
Qualcomm, the cellular company that developed CDMA (code-division multiple access) technology used in cell phones, will report earnings after the bell Thursday. Analysts will be looking for future projections about the cell phone market as well as the latest on the company's new wireless data technology, dubbed High Data Rate.
Compaq Computers' earnings news and future projections this week should offer investors some insight about when sluggish PC sales can be expected to pick up. Recent figures from IDC show that PC sales in the United States grew by 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2000 from the previous year, the smallest growth ever in the history of the PC industry. For the year 2000, U.S. PC sales grew 10.3 percent, compared with projections of about 20 percent.
The information was gathered from First Call, Hoover's Online, CCBN's StreetEvents and CNET Investor.
Other events scheduled this week:
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- C.E. Unterberg Towbin will host the Satellite Communications Conference at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York Jan. 22-23. Speakers include PanAmSat Chief Executive Douglas Kahn, Globecomm Systems President Ken Miller and L-3 Communications CEO Frank Lanza.
Tuesday, Jan. 23
- The Interactive TV Pitch competition will take place at the NATPE (National Association of Television Program Executives) conference for media and content professionals at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas on Jan. 23. Fifteen contestants each will have 60 seconds to pitch their ideas. The winning proposal in the Microsoft TV-sponsored competition could be made into the next interactive TV concept.
Wednesday, Jan. 24
- Medicine Meets Virtual Reality will take place at the Marriott Hotel & Tennis Club in Newport Beach, Calif., Jan. 24-27. The conference will discuss hardware and software applications for health care providers and look at how virtual reality is transforming aspects of medicine.
Friday, Jan. 26
- The Wireless Advertising Association (WAA) will hold a general meeting at the Nikko Hotel in San Francisco on Jan. 25. Akihisa Fujita, CEO of D2 Communications, will present a situation analysis of the current state
of wireless in Japan as well as a future forecast for wireless advertising.
Earnings
- Drugstore.com operates an online drugstore that sells health and beauty and pharmacy products. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 55 cents.
- FreeMarkets operates business-to-business online auctions for buyers of industrial parts, raw materials, commodities and services. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 31 cents.
- McAfee makes security and virus-protection products for PCs. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 9 cents.
- EMC makes mainframe computer disk memory hardware and software. Storage hardware accounts for about 80 percent of its sales. Other products let people manage remote data and share information across networks of different computers. Per-share consensus estimate: 23 cents.
- Tellabs makes equipment used to transmit data, video and voice signals. Per-share consensus estimate: 56 cents.
- Lam Research makes equipment used by semiconductor companies. Per-share consensus estimate: 53 cents.
- Broadcom makes integrated circuits used in cable modems, digital set-top boxes, digital subscriber line, satellite and terrestrial broadcasting, home networking and wireless devices. Per-share consensus estimate: 31 cents.
- Compuware makes testing, development and management software for programs running on stand-alone mainframe computer systems and for corporate networks. Per-share consensus estimate: 13 cents.
- Compaq is the second-largest computer seller behind IBM. Per-share consensus estimate: 28 cents.
- Akamai Technologies maintains a network of 4,000 servers in 45 countries. Its FreeFlow Internet content delivery system analyzes Web traffic and transmits content from the server geographically closest to the consumer. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 68 cents.
- Cirrus Logic makes specialized integrated circuits, including mass storage chips for Fujitsu and Hitachi and chips for Internet audio applications. Per-share consensus estimate: 26 cents.
- Exodus Communications offers services such as server hosting and Internet connectivity that let businesses outsource the management of their Internet sites. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 16 cents.
- Veritas Software makes storage management software. Per-share consensus estimate: 17 cents.
Thursday, Jan. 25
- Webvan delivers groceries ordered over the Internet in major metropolitan cities. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 24 cents.
- Corning manufactures a host of products including optical fiber and cable, specialized glass products, and TV glass panels. Per-share consensus estimate: 28 cents.
- BroadVision makes e-commerce and targeted customer information software. Per-share consensus estimate: 5 cents.
- JDS Uniphase makes fiber-optic components for the telecommunications industry. Per-share consensus estimate: 19 cents.
- Excite@Home sells broadband Internet connections to consumers and businesses. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 9 cents.
- Qualcomm sells wireless products and services based on its CDMA technology. Per-share consensus estimate: 28 cents.
Economic Reports Monday, Jan. 22
- The Treasury Budget is a monthly account of the surplus or deficit of the U.S. government. The deficit is expected to increase to -$34 billion in December from -$33.1 billion in September.
Thursday, Jan. 25
- Initial Claims refers to the number of people who filed for unemployment benefits each week as reported by the Department of Labor. Claims will be reported for the week of Jan. 20.
Existing Home Sales represents the number of homes sold nationwide. The Federal Reserve watches such indicators, reasoning that the more consumers buying homes, cars and other high-ticket items, the hotter the economy. The number is supposed to drop to 5 million in December from 5.22 million in November.
- Durable Goods Orders represents the number of big-ticket items purchased, such as washing machines and refrigerators, to measure the strength of the economy. This number is expected to fall 1.8 percent in December, compared with a 2.5 percent gain in the previous month.
Other Events Tuesday, Jan. 23
- Struggling software maker Corel will announce restructuring plans Jan. 23, though the company is not expected to provide details on selling its Linux business until later.
- Initial Claims refers to the number of people who filed for unemployment benefits each week as reported by the Department of Labor. Claims will be reported for the week of Jan. 20.
- The Treasury Budget is a monthly account of the surplus or deficit of the U.S. government. The deficit is expected to increase to -$34 billion in December from -$33.1 billion in September.