Sales of PCs, iPods bolster Apple

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Apple Computer Inc. said second-quarter profit rose 41 percent, buoyed by rising sales of iPod music players and Macintosh personal computers.

Net income rose to $410 million, or 47 cents a share, from $290 million, or 34 cents, a year earlier, Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple said yesterday in a statement. Sales increased 34 percent to $4.36 billion, compared with average growth of 65 percent in the prior five periods.

Profit this quarter will be 39 to 43 cents on sales of $4.2 billion to $4.4 billion, Apple said. Analysts had expected 47 cents on sales of $4.73 billion, the average of 20 estimates in a Thomson Financial poll. Thomson declined to disclose what costs are excluded in the estimates. (Bloomberg)

Loss narrows for American Airlines

American Airlines Inc. posted a narrower quarterly loss that beat forecasts and hinted at sunnier earnings for the busy summer season, boosting the leading US carrier's shares as much as 7.9 percent.

American, a unit of AMR Corp., posted a first-quarter loss of $92 million, or 49 cents a share, narrower than a loss of $162 million, or $1 a share, a year ago.

This beat analysts' consensus forecast of 79 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenue at American, the first major airline to report first-quarter results, rose 12.5 percent to $5.344 billion. (Reuters)

Disappointing drug sales hit Genzyme

Genzyme Corp. reported lower-than-anticipated first-quarter earnings on disappointing sales of several drugs and unexpectedly high costs, sending its shares down more than 7 percent.

Profit at the Cambridge-based biotechnology company rose to $101 million, or 37 cents a share, from $95.6 million, or 36 cents a share, a year ago.

Excluding amortization and stock-based compensation, earnings were 59 cents a share.

Analysts had on average expected earnings of 63 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenue rose 16 percent to $730.8 million, but sales of Fabrazyme, a treatment for the rare genetic disorder Fabry disease; Synvisc, for osteoarthritis of the knee; and Hectorol, for chronic kidney disease, were lower than expected. (Reuters)

Cubist revenue up 69% in 1st period

Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s first-quarter loss narrowed to $5.88 million, or 11 cents a share, from $12.9 million, or 25 cents a share, a year earlier, helped by higher revenue.

Excluding a $2.58 million stock-based compensation expense, Cubist reported a loss of $3.31 million, or 6 cents a share, for the latest quarter.

The Cambridge biopharmaceutical company's revenue rose 69 percent to $40.1 million from $23.7 million in the year-earlier quarter.

On average, analysts polled by Thomson First Call were looking for revenue of $41.5 million. (Dow Jones)

EBay matches Wall St. expectations

Web auctioneer eBay Inc. posted a 3 percent drop in quarterly net profit after accounting for stock compensation costs, and stuck to a 2006 revenue forecast at the low end of Wall Street's targets.

Shares of San Jose, Calif.-based eBay were down 4.8 percent at $38.43 in after-hours trading, after closing up 3.8 percent in regular Nasdaq trading ahead of the results.

Net income for the first quarter dipped to $248.3 million, or 17 cents per diluted share, compared with $256.3 million, or 19 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, the latest quarter profit was 24 cents a share -- matching Wall Street's consensus expectation.

Net revenue rose 35 percent to $1.39 billion, matching Wall Street's consensus forecast, but marking a deceleration in year-over-year revenue growth compared to previous quarters.

Excluding the impact of stock compensation costs, eBay said its profit rose 20 percent to $306 million, or 21 cents a share. (Reuters)

Intel reports net income falls 38%

Intel saw its first-quarter profit fall 38 percent -- the result of a weakening PC market and stiff competition from rival Advanced Micro Devices.

Net income fell to $1.35 billion, or 23 cents a share, from $2.18 billion, or 35 cents, a year earlier, the company said. Sales dropped 5.2 percent to $8.94 billion.

The world's largest computer chip maker reported results after the close of trading that it earned 23 cents a share -- down 12 cents from a year earlier, but in line with Wall Street's forecast. (Associated Press)

Edgewater doubles profit in quarter

Edgewater Technology Inc.'s first-quarter profit more than doubled, to $460,000, or 4 cents a share, from $188,000, or 2 cents a share, a year earlier, driven by the addition of 14 customers and the February acquisition of National Decision Systems Inc.

The Wakefield provider of information technology services said it achieved the earnings improvement despite some delays in launching projects at the beginning of the period, as well as the expensing of stock-based compensation, which reduced per-share earnings by 2 cents.

Total revenue jumped 58.9 percent, to $14.3 million from $9 million, as service revenue improved 63 percent to $13.5 million. (Dow Jones)

Pfizer cost cutting buoys results

Pfizer Inc.'s first-quarter earnings rose as cost cutting and sales of more profitable drugs for pain and arthritis offset a revenue decline.

Net income increased to $4.1 billion, or 56 cents a share, the world's biggest drug maker said. Earnings a year earlier of $301 million, or 4 cents a share, were reduced by $2.2 billion because of taxes on profits transferred to the United States from abroad. Revenue fell for the third straight quarter, by 3 percent to $12.7 billion, as some drugs lost patent protection.

Excluding certain costs, New York-based Pfizer said first-quarter profit was 61 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected 53 cents, the average of 20 estimates. Thomson declined to disclose the basis for the projections. (Bloomberg)