People on yahoo message board expect MSFT to hit 180 soon
and stock to split. This is where I disagree. I think it
could get to 135 - 140 soon at the highest.
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PC surge expected to boost Microsoft
earnings
By Bloomberg News
Special to CNET News.com
January 18, 2000, 9:35 a.m. PT
Microsoft will report higher fiscal second-quarter earnings today as sales of
personal computers boosted demand for its software, analysts said.
Microsoft is expected to report that its earnings for the period ended Dec. 31 rose to 42
cents a share from a split-adjusted 36 cents a year ago, according to analysts polled by
First Call/Thomson Financial. Revenue rose to $6.2 billion from $5.2 billion, analysts
forecast. The company has beaten earnings forecasts for the past eight quarters, and
unofficial "whisper" estimates run as high as 47 cents a share.
Microsoft benefited from strong sales of personal
computers during the holiday season, boosting sales of its
Windows operating system and application programs
such as its Office products, analysts said. Microsoft's
Windows software runs on more than 90 percent of PCs
sold in the U.S. today.
'It's been a good quarter,' said Michael Kwatinetz, a Credit
Suisse First Boston analyst with a 'strong buy' rating on
Microsoft. 'The PC market has been on fire.'
Microsoft's earnings are expected to continue to grow this
quarter and for the rest of the year, analysts said, as the
company ships its long-awaited Windows 2000 operating
system. The company's most ambitious product upgrade,
the new software for businesses will go on sale Feb. 17.
Microsoft's earnings report will come less than a week after the company announced that
co-founder and chief executive Bill Gates, the man who came to epitomize both
Microsoft's growth and the overall rise of the software industry, will step down from day-
to-day management of the company to focus on the development of new technology.
Microsoft president Steve Ballmer was named chief executive. Gates will remain chairman
and take on a new title of chief software architect, saying he wants to help guide the
company's next generation of Internet-based software. |
