Microsoft sees strong PC sales
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Microsoft Corp., the world's biggest software maker, posted profit that beat analysts' estimates and forecast higher-than-expected sales next fiscal year as computer demand holds up in the face of an economic slowdown.
Net income dropped to $4.39 billion, or 47 cents a share, from $4.93 billion, or 50 cents, a year earlier, the Redmond, Wash.-based company said. Sales were little changed at $14.5 billion.
Microsoft beat estimates for the third quarter in a row as PC purchases climbed. Shipments rose 15 percent as sales overseas offset slowing growth in the United States, researcher IDC said.
Analysts on average predicted earnings of 44.5 cents a share in the third quarter. Profit and sales a year ago were helped by $1.67 billion in software orders held over from the previous quarter for accounting reasons.
Microsoft said sales in the fiscal year that starts in July will rise to $66.9 billion to $68 billion, compared with the $66.6 billion average of analysts' estimates. Profit will increase to $2.13 to $2.19 a share, compared with an estimate of $2.11. (Bloomberg)
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Raytheon Co., maker of the Tomahawk cruise missile, said first-quarter profit rose 23 percent, beating analysts' estimates, as the United States and allied nations increased purchases of air-defense systems and combat gear.
Profit from continuing operations climbed to $400 million, or 93 cents a share, from $324 million, or 71 cents, a year earlier, Waltham-based Raytheon said. Sales gained 11 percent to $5.35 billion.
Raytheon's missile systems business increased revenue 15 percent during the period.
Raytheon was projected to report per-share profit rose to 84 cents, the average estimate of 16 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Including discontinued operations, net income rose 15 percent to $398 million, or 92 cents a share, from $346 million, or 76 cents, a year earlier. (Bloomberg)
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Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.'s first-quarter profit rose sharply, and the maker of laboratory supplies and scientific instruments slightly raised full-year expectations.
But its shares finished lower after the chief executive noted declining scientific instrument demand from energy industry customers and semiconductor makers, and a dropoff for hazard detection gear as Homeland Security antiterror spending slows.
Thermo Fisher's 68 percent gain is in comparison to last year's first quarter, when the bottom line was hurt by charges from its $10.6 billion acquisition of Fisher Scientific.
Waltham-based Thermo Fisher reported net income of $233 million, or 53 cents per share compared to profit of $138.9 million, or 31 cents per share, a year earlier.
Not counting one-time items largely related to amortization, the latest quarter's profit was 74 cents per share, narrowly beating analyst estimates.
Revenue rose 9 percent from $2.34 billion to $2.55 billion, just above analysts' estimate. (AP)
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Interactive Data Corp. said first-quarter profit jumped 26 percent as the financial data provider's core services for institutional customers enjoyed increased growth.
Net income rose to $32.3 million, or 33 cents per share, compared with $25.6 million, or 27 cents per share, a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial predicted the company would earn 31 cents per share.
Revenue increased to $181.7 million from $162.5 million a year earlier. IDC left its full-year revenue growth outlook of 7 to 9 percent unchanged. (AP)
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3M Co., the maker of 50,000 products from Scotch-brand tape to electronic signs, said first-quarter net income fell 28 percent and that a slowing US economy is starting to hurt sales.
Net income dropped to $988 million, or $1.38 a share, from $1.37 billion, or $1.85, a year-earlier in a quarter that benefited from the sale of a business, the St. Paul-based company said. Revenue rose 8.9 percent to $6.46 billion. The results beat analysts' average estimates.
Sales grew eight times faster overseas than in the United States, where chief executive George Buckley said he expects demand for products such as Post-it Notes to soften this year. Analysts said 3M results didn't look as good once currency translations were considered.
The company was expected to earn $1.35 a share on sales of $6.35 billion, the average estimates in a Bloomberg survey. Results in the year-earlier quarter were aided by $422 million in proceeds from the sale of the pharmaceutical business.
The company repeated its forecast for 2008 earnings growth of at least 10 percent, or about $5.48 a share. (Bloomberg)
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Health and industrial sciences company PerkinElmer Inc. reported a 37 percent jump in its first-quarter profit, as sales increased at its life-sciences and optoelectronics units.
The Waltham company earned $20.1 million, or 17 cents per share, compared with $14.7 million, or 12 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time costs, PerkinElmer said its profit grew to 29 cents per share.
Revenue rose 20 percent, to $482.3 million. On average, analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected the company to earn 25 cents per share on $459.6 million in revenue.
The company forecast an adjusted profit of 33 to 35 cents per share in the second quarter, with revenue growth in the mid- to high teens. (AP) 