earnings

HP takes $8.8B charge on Autonomy 'improprieties'

Last updated at 9:45 a.m. PT

Hewlett-Packard took a massive charge related to its purchase of Autonomy and indicated that it bought the company based on pumped-up and fraudulent accounting.

In its fourth-quarter earnings report, HP recorded a charge of $8.8 billion in its software unit. Then HP dropped this bomb:

The majority of this impairment charge is linked to serious accounting improprieties, disclosure failures and outright misrepresentations at Autonomy Corporation plc that occurred prior to HP's acquisition of Autonomy and the associated impact of those improprieties, failures and misrepresentations on the expected future financial performance … Read more

Dell makes pitch for $649 Windows 8 tablets at business

After Dell reported lackluster earnings today, executives made a case for the company's Windows 8 tablets at businesses.

Dell's earnings fell sharply today, with net income in the quarter ended November 2 sinking 47 percent to $475 million compared with the $893 million reported in the same period last year. Revenue was off 11 percent.

So, what is Dell doing about it? Well, it's trying to transform itself into a supplier of IT services.

But before it can do that, it's still trying to sell lots of PCs -- and now Windows 8 tablets.

Those tablets … Read more

Cisco kicks off fiscal year with strong earnings

Cisco shares rose by 6.8 percent on Tuesday after the bell as the networking giant published a rather solid earnings report for the first fiscal quarter of 2013.

The San Jose, Calif., based corporation reported a net income of $2.1 billion, or 39 cents a share (statement). Non-GAAP earnings were 48 cents a share on a revenue of $11.9 billion -- up by 6 percent on an annual basis.Wall Street was expecting Cisco to report first quarter earnings of 46 cents per share on revenue of $11.78 billion.Cisco chairman and CEO John Chambers asserted … Read more

Nvidia CEO: People buying tablets instead of cheap PCs

Tablets really are replacing PCs now that the latest version of Windows has launched, graphics- and mobile-chip maker Nvidia said.

But at least right now, Nvidia's mobile business isn't big enough to offset the less-than-merry computer market this holiday season.

It's not exactly shocking that tablets have been eating into sales of PCs. Computer makers have noted the trend, and so have Nvidia chip rivals Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.

But what's interesting is that Nvidia says consumers now realize that a "great tablet is better than a cheap PC." That could signal a … Read more

Groupon revenue rises, but still disappoints Wall Street

Although Groupon's revenue is up 32 percent from last year, it is still getting crushed by investors for not making as much as expected.

The daily-deals company today reported revenue of about $568.6 million in its third quarter, up from $430 million the same time last year. The company narrowed its net loss dramatically, to just under $3 million from $54 million a year earlier, and it broke even on a per share basis. And yet the revenue and profit figures fell short of Wall Street expectations.

Analysts were expecting revenue of $590 million and earnings of 3 … Read more

T-Mobile USA loses 492,000 contract customers in Q3

T-Mobile USA has lost close to half a million subscribers during the third quarter, according to the company's earnings statement out this morning (PDF).

The network lost a total of 492,000 postpaid contracts -- the lucrative long-term contracts that that bring in regular income for a cellular network -- during the quarter, causing a drop in its average revenue per user (ARPU) to $42.78, a decline of 7 percent on the same quarter a year ago.

The firm also reported a net 287,000 wholesale customers, including machine-to-machine (M2M) agreements and through its resellers.

However, T-Mobile USA … Read more

Qualcomm's Q4 shows gap between mobile, PC chipmakers

In case the market needs more evidence of the strength of mobile versus PCs, all it has to do is look at Qualcomm.

The wireless-chip maker, which helped popularize the CDMA technology used in cell phones, today reported quarterly financial results that were better than it had anticipated, and it provided bullish projections for the current period and year.

Its strong results -- which sent shares up about 8 percent in after-hours trading -- contrast pretty sharply with the dismal forecasts from many other semiconductor companies, most notably PC chip giant Intel. Intel last month gave a fairly grim outlook … Read more

LinkedIn smashes Q3 earnings estimates

LinkedIn, the professional networking site that now has 187 million members, today posted third-quarter earnings that easily beat Wall Street estimates and raised its revenue guidance for the full year.

The company, which had strong growth across the board, saw revenue rise 81 percent from the year-ago quarter, to $252 million. Analysts had expected revenue of $244 million. Net income also was up, with LinkedIn posting earnings per share of 22 cents, twice what Wall Street had predicted.

Membership rose 6.9 percent to 187 million from 175 million at the end of the second quarter.

Shares of LinkedIn, which … Read more

Sony's fiscal picture brightens a bit

Fiscal second-quarter earnings for Sony show a less-bleak picture than expected. After losing $5.7 billion last year and $312 million in the first quarter, the Tokyo-based technology giant is starting to slowly recover. 

Sony recorded an operating profit of $388 million, compared to a $20 million loss in the same quarter a year ago. On the whole, it's an improvement but Sony still has a long way to go before it reaches anything close to "healthy" status.

Net income before taxes stood at $252 million, with an operating profit of $388 million. However, Sony lost $… Read more