earnings

Shares of software-as-a-service company Salesforce.com fell Thursday in morning trading after the company announced cautious guidance for the upcoming third quarter.

Shares were trading at $55.80 by midday, down from Wednesday's close of $65.30.

Looking ahead, the company said it expects revenue in the third quarter to be between $273 million and $274 million, slightly below analysts' expectations.

Thursday, Piper Jaffray downgraded the stock from "buy" to "neutral."

The stock slip came despite a strong second quarter. Salesforce announced revenue of $263.1 million for the second quarter ended July 31, up … Read more

Hewlett-Packard beat Wall Street earnings estimates this quarter, lead by strong notebook sales growth.

HP reported third-quarter earnings of $2.03 billion, or 86 cents per share, excluding one-time charges. Analysts were expecting earnings of 83 cents per share. The company's third-quarter results reflect 14 percent growth over the same quarter a year ago, when HP reported earnings of $1.78 billion and 66 cents per share.

There were fears leading up to the announcement that slowing demand for PCs in Western nations and a strengthening dollar could mean HP had peaked this year already. But HP is forecasting … Read more

T-Mobile USA is adding new subscribers, but the No. 4 wireless operator can't seem to catch much ground on its larger competitors.

Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile USA's parent company, reported second quarter earnings on Thursday and gave some detail on its U.S. operations. While T-Mobile USA increased revenue for the quarter by about 14.3 percent compared to a year ago, the company is not adding as many new customers as it has in the past. Total revenues rose to $5.47 billion from $4.78 billion in the prior-year quarter.

In the second quarter, T-Mobile USA reported … Read more

Samsung's Instinct didn't save Sprint Nextel's quarter, but the company has taken a few baby steps toward recovery.

Despite strong sales of the hot new touch-screen phone, Sprint Nextel reported yet another quarter of losses on Wednesday when it posted second quarter earnings. The Instinct went on sale in June a few weeks before Apple's much lauded iPhone 3G hit store shelves. And it was deemed an immediate success for Sprint as the phone hit record sales within the first week and has sold out of many Sprint locations.

Even though the hot selling product helped … Read more

In an investor call Wednesday, Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes focused on the old media. You probably would have, too, if you could downplay AOL's dial-up business in favor of the late Heath Ledger's acclaimed performance in The Dark Knight.

Television and film at Time Warner are indeed beating Wall Street's expectations. The record-breaking Batman film, while its financials won't be reported until the third quarter, is on track to become the second highest-grossing movie of all time (behind 1997's Titanic). At the same time, HBO miniseries John Adams was a critically acclaimed hit, the … Read more

Time Warner will indeed split its AOL access and media units starting next year, CEO Jeff Bewkes confirmed in a release announcing the company's second-quarter earnings.

It's the first time the executive has confirmed that the split will take place soon, though it's been widely talked about for months since the chief mentioned it speculatively earlier this year. What he hasn't said yet--and what some are expecting may come soon--is that Time Warner will get rid of AOL altogether, perhaps selling it to a bigger player in the online-advertising market.

It was another tepid quarter for … Read more

There's no doubt the battered economy is affecting technology bellwether Cisco Systems, but the company is looking to the future with plans for big investments across its portfolio in "adjacent markets."

On Tuesday, Cisco reported that earnings for its fourth fiscal quarter 2008 were up 4.4 percent to $2.0 billion on revenue that climbed 9.9 percent to $10.36 billion. The results were in line with analyst expectations, but were a far cry from the company's results during some of its best quarters when the economy was strong and healthy.

As for the … Read more

Two on-demand business software firms reported accelerating adoption of their suites today.

NetSuite reported second-quarter 2008 revenue of $36.6 million, up 43 percent from the same period in 2007. Net loss per GAAP was down to $3.1 million in the quarter, compared with $9.6 million in Q2 2007.

The company also announced new midmarket and enterprise customers for its ERP and CRM suites, which are delivered as Web applications. Surgical robotics company Intuitive Surgical adopted NetSuite CRM; Nestle UK used services from NetSuite to launch an online store; and sports market firm Wasserman Media Group adopted NetSuite … Read more

Shares of Nortel Networks sank as much as 17 percent on Friday after the company reported a wider second-quarter loss and warned that it faces challenges ahead.

The Canadian telecommunications equipment company posted a quarterly loss of $113 million, or 23 cents a share. That compares with a loss of $37 million, or 7 cents, a year ago. The results included $67 million in restructuring charges.

The company also warned that it faces increasing challenges amid concerns about the economy and lower spending by certain North American CDMA customers. But it asserted that revenue is expected to grow in the … Read more