financials

Sony was hit hard during the fourth quarter--its fiscal third quarter--and its incoming CEO knows some serious work will be needed to turn things around.

The electronics giant today announced that it generated 1.82 trillion yen (about $23.4 billion) in revenue in the quarter just ended (PDF), dropping 17 percent year over year. The company posted a loss of 159 billion yen ($2.04 billion), representing a steep decline from the 72.3 billion yen profit it posted during the same period last year.

Sony's earnings were weighed down by a dismal quarter for the company's … Read more

After Apple's historic holiday quarter, Wall Street analysts (for the most part) are champing at the bit to raise predictions for AAPL, citing overwhelmingly strong iPhone and iPad sales last year and high expectations for new product releases this year.

According to a report by The Apple Blog, several analysts think Apple is still on the rise, giving its stock evaluation anywhere from a $550 to a $666 target for the coming year. Apple's guidance for the second quarter was surprisingly high given its typically conservative nature, but analyst Shaw Wu believes that could be due to the … Read more

Nintendo's troubles are deepening, and unfortunately for the venerable game company, there doesn't appear to be an end in sight.

The game company today announced (PDF) sales of 556.2 billion yen ($7.2 billion) during the nine months ended December 31, down nearly 32 percent compared to the same period in 2010. It also posted a 48.4 billion yen (about $625 million) net loss. During the same period in 2010, Nintendo generated a profit of nearly 50 billion yen.

In its earnings release, Nintendo acknowledged that times are tough, saying that its financials were brought down … Read more

Apple broke all kinds of records yesterday with its monster earnings report.

With those results in the rear view mirror, now's as good a time as any to sit back and take a look at what they mean. Below are some of the big or otherwise notable facts and figures to chew on.

$46.33 billion. That was Apple's total revenue from the quarter, an all-time record and 73 percent better than the company did during the same quarter last year.

$13.06 billion. Apple's profit for the quarter, more than double what it did during the … Read more

After seeing Apple post a hugely successful fiscal first quarter yesterday, investors are on a spending spree.

Apple's stock soared in early trading today, surging nearly 7 percent to $449.33 after opening a touch higher still at $454.44, as investors moved to take quick advantage of the anticipated strong demand for the company's shares. At that price, Apple's market capitalization stands at about $418.8 billion, doubling Wal-Mart's market value and just beating out Exxon Mobil's.

Apple's robust performance today stems from the record-breaking sales the company generated in the fourth quarter (… Read more

Any notions that Apple's iPhone 4S was a lame duck were erased with Apple's quarterly earnings.

Apple reported revenue of $46.33 billion and profits of $13.06 billion, or $13.87 per share, for the quarter ended December 31, 2011. That was up from the $26.74 billion, or $6.43 per share, the company saw at the same time last year.

"We're thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads, and Macs," Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, said in a statement. "Apple's momentum is incredibly strong, and we … Read more

Apple reports its first-quarter earnings tomorrow, and Wall Street's expecting some record-breaking numbers all around.

Analysts polled by FactSet predict the company will bring in earnings of $10.04 per share and revenue of $38.92 billion. As usual, that's well above the $9.30 a share on $37 billion Apple forecasted at the end of its last quarter.

There will be a lot to chew on with tomorrow's numbers, which should come in shortly after the close of trading. But the big one to look at is how many iPhones the company sold.

This is the … Read more

HTC trudged through a difficult fourth quarter, but all in all, 2011 was a solid year for the handset maker.

The company said today that during the fourth quarter of 2011, it posted a profit of NT$11 billion ($364 million), which, while strong, was down a thumping 26 percent compared to the same period last year when it generated NT$14.8 billion in net income. It was the company's first profit drop in two years.

HTC saw a similar story on the revenue side, as sales dropped from NT$104 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010 … Read more

Social-gaming company Zynga is officially trading on the Nasdaq, and so far, things aren't looking too good.

The company started selling its shares for $10 around 8 a.m. PT this morning. The stock initially jumped to over $11 a share, but soon dropped about 5 percent to around $9.50. After that, the stock was teetering between small gains and small losses, despite the market trading up on the day.

At the end of the day, the shares closed down 50 cents to $9.50.

Earlier this month, Zynga said that it would price its shares at $8.… Read more