INTERVIEW - Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) CFO sees Q2 upside
(My comment: the key here is estimates should go up, to reflect improvement perhaps even on a ?sequential basis? This is the best quarter and outlook I have seen for Microsoft in many years.)
Reuters, Tuesday, October 20, 1998 at 17:34
By Martin Wolk
SEATTLE, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. Chief Financial
Officer Greg Maffei said Tuesday he expected the company to
meet or beat analyst estimates for the current second quarter
after factoring the upside surprise of the first quarter.
"I'm going to suggest that there may be some upside to the
numbers that the Street generally has," Maffei said in an
interview. "I think we should be able to meet those and perhaps
exceed them."
He declined to give details ahead of a conference call with
analysts.
On average analysts had expected Microsoft to post
second-quarter earnings of $0.52 per share, compared with $0.42
a year earlier, according to First Call, although the consensus
estimate likely will have to rise by at least seven cents to
account for the much better than expected first quarter.
Maffei said the second quarter would be boosted by a
variety of seasonal factors including holiday sales of personal
computers and consumer software, year-end business buying and
improved performance in Europe.
While Microsoft's revenues rose 26 percent in the first
quarter ending Sept. 30, in line with expectations, per-share
earnings rose 56 percent in part because of sequential declines
in spending on marketing, product support and research and
development, Maffei said.
Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service
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