Microsoft earnings fall 22%; sales also down
By Rex Crum
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Microsoft Corp. MSFT (-2.12 %) on Thursday reported a fiscal first-quarter profit of $4.47 billion, or 53 cents a share, on revenue of $16 billion. During the same period a year ago, the software giant earned $5.74 billion, or 68 cents a share, on $17.37 billion in revenue. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast Microsoft to earn 56 cents a share on $16.5 billion in sales for the quarter ended Sept. 30. The results came out ahead of Microsoft's upcoming release of the Windows 8 operating system, set for Oct. 26.
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Google schließt -8 % nach enttäuschenden Zahlen.
Oct. 18, 2012, 2:02 p.m. EDT
Google misses estimates, Motorola weighs
By Benjamin Pimentel, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Google Inc. shares tumbled Thursday after the company unexpectedly released its third-quarter results early, showing the search giant widely missing Wall Street"s profit estimates.
Google, led by CEO Larry Page, accidentally issued its third-quarter results early, showing a disappointing earnings number for the period.
Trading in Google GOOG (-8.01%) shares was halted early in the afternoon after the stock plunged more than 9% to $687.30 following the release of results that were expected after Thursday"s closing bell.
The filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission included the line, "Pending Larry quote," apparently referring to Chief Executive Larry Page. In a statement, Google said the report was released ahead of schedule after R.R. Donnelley, the company"s financial printer, "filed our draft 8K earnings statement without authorization." The report was originally scheduled for after the closing bell.
"We have ceased trading on Nasdaq while we work to finalize the document," the company said in a statement, saying it would release its full report "once it"s finalized." Google will hold a conference call at 4:30 p.m. Eastern to discuss the results.
BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis labeled the early release an "unprofessional" move, which "created panic in the market." See: Google"s early release draws Twittersphere response
Google reported a third-quarter profit of $2.18 billion, or $6.53 a share, compared with a profit of $2.73 billion, or $8.33 a share, for the year-earlier period.
Revenue, minus traffic acquisition costs, was $11.33 billion, up from $7.51 billion in the year-earlier period. Adjusted profit was $9.03 a share. Analysts were expecting an adjusted profit of $10.63 a share, on revenue of $11.39 billion.
It was Google"s first full quarter following its acquisition of Motorola Mobility and the impact of the merger was evident in the results which showed $527 million operating loss for Motorola Mobility.
However, Google said average cost-per-click, which is the prices paid for Google"s online ads, slipped about 15% from the year-earlier period. Gillis said the rate of decrease was higher than the consensus of a decline of about 6.8%.
"Everybody kept talking about cost-per-click strengthening — but it didn"t," he told MarketWatch.
In an early review of the results, Mark Mahaney of Citigroup said he believes the CPC decline "is due to the impact of Ads Quality changes as well as due to increased Mobile queries."
Another major issue, he added, was Motorola, which some analysts had said could be a big burden for Google. "Revenue from Motorola is going to be rolling down in front of Google"s ability to cost control," Gillis said.
www.marketwatch.com/story/...imates-motorola-weighs-2012-10-18
By Rex Crum
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Microsoft Corp. MSFT (-2.12 %) on Thursday reported a fiscal first-quarter profit of $4.47 billion, or 53 cents a share, on revenue of $16 billion. During the same period a year ago, the software giant earned $5.74 billion, or 68 cents a share, on $17.37 billion in revenue. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast Microsoft to earn 56 cents a share on $16.5 billion in sales for the quarter ended Sept. 30. The results came out ahead of Microsoft's upcoming release of the Windows 8 operating system, set for Oct. 26.
---------------------------
Google schließt -8 % nach enttäuschenden Zahlen.
Oct. 18, 2012, 2:02 p.m. EDT
Google misses estimates, Motorola weighs
By Benjamin Pimentel, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Google Inc. shares tumbled Thursday after the company unexpectedly released its third-quarter results early, showing the search giant widely missing Wall Street"s profit estimates.
Google, led by CEO Larry Page, accidentally issued its third-quarter results early, showing a disappointing earnings number for the period.
Trading in Google GOOG (-8.01%) shares was halted early in the afternoon after the stock plunged more than 9% to $687.30 following the release of results that were expected after Thursday"s closing bell.
The filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission included the line, "Pending Larry quote," apparently referring to Chief Executive Larry Page. In a statement, Google said the report was released ahead of schedule after R.R. Donnelley, the company"s financial printer, "filed our draft 8K earnings statement without authorization." The report was originally scheduled for after the closing bell.
"We have ceased trading on Nasdaq while we work to finalize the document," the company said in a statement, saying it would release its full report "once it"s finalized." Google will hold a conference call at 4:30 p.m. Eastern to discuss the results.
BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis labeled the early release an "unprofessional" move, which "created panic in the market." See: Google"s early release draws Twittersphere response
Google reported a third-quarter profit of $2.18 billion, or $6.53 a share, compared with a profit of $2.73 billion, or $8.33 a share, for the year-earlier period.
Revenue, minus traffic acquisition costs, was $11.33 billion, up from $7.51 billion in the year-earlier period. Adjusted profit was $9.03 a share. Analysts were expecting an adjusted profit of $10.63 a share, on revenue of $11.39 billion.
It was Google"s first full quarter following its acquisition of Motorola Mobility and the impact of the merger was evident in the results which showed $527 million operating loss for Motorola Mobility.
However, Google said average cost-per-click, which is the prices paid for Google"s online ads, slipped about 15% from the year-earlier period. Gillis said the rate of decrease was higher than the consensus of a decline of about 6.8%.
"Everybody kept talking about cost-per-click strengthening — but it didn"t," he told MarketWatch.
In an early review of the results, Mark Mahaney of Citigroup said he believes the CPC decline "is due to the impact of Ads Quality changes as well as due to increased Mobile queries."
Another major issue, he added, was Motorola, which some analysts had said could be a big burden for Google. "Revenue from Motorola is going to be rolling down in front of Google"s ability to cost control," Gillis said.
www.marketwatch.com/story/...imates-motorola-weighs-2012-10-18
