financial

Samsung posted somewhat disappointing first-quarter results today, though it did generate a sizable profit.

For the first quarter of 2011, Samsung reported revenue of 37 trillion Korean won ($34.5 billion), representing a 7 percent increase compared to the same period in 2010. The company posted a profit for the quarter of 2.78 trillion won, but that figure was down a substantial 30 percent year over year.

Samsung attributed the declines to "lower semiconductor memory prices and reduced profitability in LCD panels and TV sets." The company also pointed to the devastating magnitude 9.0 earthquake that hit northeastern Japan last month.

The company's Display Panel business was hit especially hard, with revenue down 5 percent year over year. Samsung's flat-panel shipments slumped 31 percent to 8.8 million units during the first quarter. The profit it generated in that operation--100 billion won--was led by improved LED TV sales, which made up 39 percent of the company's flat-panel revenue last quarter.

In the U.S., Samsung continues to find itself in a highly competitive race with Vizio for the lead in the television market. During the fourth quarter of 2010, the most recent period covered by research firm IHS iSuppli, Vizio shipped nearly 2.9 million televisions, capturing 23.9 percent of the U.S. market. Samsung shipped nearly 2.6 million televisions, helping it nab the second spot with 21.5 percent of the market. In the third quarter, Samsung had led the way with 18.8 percent market share, followed by Vizio's 16.6 percent share.… Read more

Following last quarter's record setting revenues, Apple once again beat expectations led by strong iPhone and Mac sales.

Apple's second fiscal quarter revenue came in at $24.67 billion, or $6.40 per share. That's way above the $23.34 billion and $5.36 per share that Wall Street analysts had been expecting, and it puts revenue growth at 83 percent compared with the same quarter last year.

"With quarterly revenue growth of 83 percent and profit growth of 95 percent, we're firing on all cylinders," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement. &… Read more

The number of people accessing their bank or brokerage accounts through mobile devices surged 54 percent in the fourth quarter last year compared with the same period in 2009, according to a new report from ComScore.

During the fourth quarter of 2010, 29.8 million Americans tapped into their bank, credit, or brokerage accounts via cell phones and other mobile devices, according to the Mobile Financial Advisor report released yesterday.

Drilling down further, 18.6 million people accessed their financial accounts via a mobile browser, 10.8 million used a mobile app, and 8.1 million used text messaging, said … Read more

The 404 Podcast has a symbiotic relationship with "Aunt" Jill Schlesinger aka The Financial Decoder for CBS Moneywatch: she helps our listeners create a foundation for their financial future, and we answer her tech questions about her Twitter account and yesterday's Apple iPad 2 announcement.

And sometimes she brings us cookies...giant, half-pound cookies from Levain Bakery!

You'll have to hold your breath for the iPad 2 discussion, though, because first we want to tell you guys about Jill's new podcast on the radio, appropriately called Jill On Money!

Episode 1 is already posted on the Moneywatch.com Web site; it's an hour-and-a-half broadcast where Jill answers plenty of questions about paying off mortgages, rising gas prices, and tips on how to maintain a good credit score. Plus, a little Cheryl Dunn in the morning ain't hurting anyone.

If you have a financial question for Jill, make sure you give her a call at 855-411-JILL (855-411-5455) and she'll schedule time to ask it live on the show, or you can also send her an e-mail at askjill(at)moneywatch.com or tweet her.

With Jill getting more involved in the tech side of broadcasting, she asks us for advice on whether she should buy the new Apple iPad 2. The way we see it, her buying decision depends on what she'll ultimately do with the tablet.

Since she already has a MacBook, she can either dish out $350 on a refurbished iPad 1 or spend $150 more for the 16GB iPad 2. Tune in to hear our advice, and as usual, we don't all agree on one path to take.… Read more

Microsoft beat Wall Street's expectations today with its fiscal second quarter earnings.

For the three months ended December 31, Microsoft earned $19.95 billion in revenue, or 77 cents per share, on $6.63 billion of net income. Analyst estimates from earlier in the week had pegged the software giant's revenues at 69 cents per share on $19.2 billion in revenue.

In the same quarter last year, Microsoft earned 74 cents per share on revenue of $19 billion, though that included $1.7 billion in sales that had been deferred from the previous quarter because of Microsoft'… Read more

Microsoft reports its fiscal second-quarter earnings tomorrow afternoon, and much has changed for the company since its last, both good and bad.

There are some big new products in the pipeline like Kinect and Windows Phone 7, as well as enterprise-oriented tools like Lync. But there are also some new questions about the future of PC growth and Microsoft's health as a company with more key employee departures that are likely to have Wall Street asking some tough questions during the Q&A.

As far as expectations go, analysts surveyed by FactSet peg Microsoft's second quarter at … Read more

Yahoo's overall revenue is still declining, but its fourth-quarter numbers were in line with expectations as the company continues to tread water.

For the period ending December 31, Yahoo reported gross revenue of $1.5 billion, which when traffic-acquisition costs are factored out results in net revenue of $1.2 billion, just ahead of analyst estimates. It's a 4 percent decline from last year's fourth quarter, and can be mostly blamed on the loss of search advertising revenue as Yahoo transitioned its search technology to Microsoft under their 2009 agreement.

Net earnings, however, rose 104 percent to $… Read more

Just hours before its 2010 fourth-quarter earnings call, Yahoo has confirmed an NBC Local report that it has laid off about 100 to 150 employees, or 1 percent of its global workforce.

"The personnel changes we are making are part of our ongoing strategy to best position Yahoo for revenue growth and margin expansion and to support our strategy to deliver differentiated products and experiences to the marketplace," a statement from Yahoo read. "We'll continue to hire on a global basis to support our key priorities. Today's action impacts approximately 1 percent of the global … Read more

Yandex, the Russian search engine that along with China's Baidu is demonstrating Google doesn't have a total lock on search, reported that its 2010 revenue increased 43 percent year over year to 12.5 billion rubles, or about $420 million.

The company made 88 percent of its 2010 revenue from contextual ads, which by its definition include those shown next to search results, the company said yesterday. The company has more than 180,000 advertisers.

The revenue figures exclude commissions paid to partners, the company said. Yandex, a privately held company, didn't release information about its profitability. … Read more