Microsoft's 1st-Qtr Net Income Falls; Sales Rise
(www.bloomberg.com news headline)
My favorite excerpts:
Microsoft Corp., the largest software maker, said fiscal first-quarter net income fell because of investment losses.
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Microsoft trimmed profit targets for this quarter and fiscal year, as the PC industry faces its worst slump in more than a decade.
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Excluding $1.24 billion in costs related to a drop in the value of some investments, Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said it would have earned 43 cents a share in the recent period. On that basis, which doesn't conform to generally accepted accounting principles [emphasis added], the company was forecast to earn 39 cents, the average estimate in a poll by Thomson Financial/First Call.
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Fourth-Quarter Forecast
Profit in the current quarter will be 49 cents or 50 cents a share, less than the average analyst forecast for 51 cents, according to First Call.
For fiscal 2002, which ends in June, profit will be $1.61 to $1.66 a share, less than analysts expected, on sales of $28.4 billion to $29.1 billion, in line with forecasts.
Microsoft is releasing an upgrade to its Windows operating system on Oct. 25, and analysts say fewer customers plan to purchase it this quarter than they once expected. Customers are extending cuts to their software budgets to save in case the economic and political situation worsens.
``The guidance for the fourth quarter is a little bit weak, and I'm not quite sure where that's coming from,'' said Larry Jones, Chief Investment Officer at NCM Capital Management Group. Microsoft is among NCM's biggest holdings. |
