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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elwood P. Dowd who wrote (88920)	1/18/2001 5:36:49 PM
From: Piotr Koziol	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

Shouldn't affect CPQ negatively considering MSFT rose in AHT, but do we ever know with the piggie ? /Piotr Microsoft Warns of Future Lower Earnings SEATTLE (Reuters) - Software giant Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) said on Thursday its quarterly profits were virtually unchanged from a year ago, meeting lowered forecasts, and warned that earnings for the current quarter would come in slightly lower than expected. Microsoft, which makes the Windows operating system found on most personal computers, said net profits for its fiscal second quarter, which ended Dec. 31, were $2.62 billion, or 47 cents a share, up slightly from the $2.44 billion, or 47 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts had cut their forecasts for the quarter to an average 47 cents a share, according to research firm First Call/Thomson Financial, after the company issued a rare profit warning last month due to slowing PC sales and corporate technology buying. Microsoft stock, which gained $2-9/16 to close at $55-1/2 on Nasdaq before the announcement, rose to $57-1/4 in after-hours trading on Instinet. ``While we are enthusiastic about the break-through products and services the company will be delivering in 2001, we remain guarded about the near-term economic outlook and its impact on PC demand and technology spending,'' Microsoft Chief Financial Officer John Connors said in a statement. For the fiscal third quarter, which ends on March 31, Microsoft said it expects earnings per share to be between 42 cents and 43 cents a share, and reiterated that earnings for the full fiscal year, which ends on June 30, are expected to be in the range of $1.80 to $1.82. Analysts had forecast Microsoft to earn 44 cents a share in the third quarter, according to First Call/Thomson Financial, up slightly from 43 cents a year ago. It is seen earning $1.81 a share for the year. For the quarter just ended, Microsoft said revenues were $6.59 billion, up 8 percent from the $6.11 billion a year earlier, Microsoft said. The company had projected that revenues would come in between $6.4 billion and $6.5 billion. Microsoft stock has tumbled from a high of $116-1/16 a year ago amid fears over its antitrust battle with the U.S. government and technology industry woes. After months of lackluster sales, most analysts believed Microsoft had turned a corner last quarter when it said that business PC sales were picking up at last. But no one anticipated the steep fall-off in consumer PC buying that left industry giants like top chip-maker Intel Corp. (NasdaqNM:INTC - news) and PC giant Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE:CPQ - news) cutting their revenue and profit estimates.