Quarterly US results are in for three of the world's main technology players - Yahoo, Intel, IBM.
YAHOO: profit, revenue down, but CEO calls results solid
Yahoo's revenue and profit slid significantly in the first quarter, but the company's performance was in line with Wall Street's expectations and company officials said the results reflect solid execution toward its financial goals.
During the quarter ended March 31, revenue came in at $US1.21 billion, down 24 per cent compared with 2010's first quarter.
Yahoo said the revenue drop is in part due to a change in how it recognises the part of its revenue derived from its search advertising agreement with Microsoft. That revenue isn't reported as gross revenue, but rather as part of the net revenue left after subtracting commissions paid to advertising and other partners.
Yahoo's net revenue was $1.06 billion, down 6 per cent year-on-year but matching the consensus estimate from analysts polled by Thomson Financial.
Meanwhile, net income fell 28 per cent to $US223 million, while earnings per share dropped 23 per cent to $0.17 per share, exceeding analysts' consensus estimate by one penny.
"We are solidly executing toward our plan for returning Yahoo to sustainable revenue and profit growth," said Carol Bartz, CEO of Yahoo, in a statement.
INTEL: quarter boosted by enterprise strength, new products
Intel reported growth in revenue and income for the first quarter of 2011, driven by the addition of new products and strength in the enterprise market.
The company reported net income of $US3.2 billion on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis for the quarter ended on April 2, up 29 per cent compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company reported earnings per share of $0.56.
Intel reported revenue of $1US2.8 billion for the first quarter, growing by 25 per cent compared to year-ago quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated revenue to be $US11.6 billion.
Intel earlier this year completed the acquisitions of security company McAfee and Infineon's wireless division, which contributed around $500 million to the first-quarter revenue, Intel's chief financial officer, Stacy Smith, said in a statement. The company announced new Sandy Bridge processors, and also fixed the Cougar Point chipset design issue associated with new processors without any revenue impact.
The chipmaker on January 31 [had said it expected the chipset design error to reduce revenue] by approximately $300 million during the first quarter.
Revenue for the Intel Architecture Group during the quarter was $US12.2 billion, which was up 23 per cent year-over-year. Revenue for the PC Client Group, which offers laptop and desktop chips, was $US8.6 billion, up 17 per cent year-over-year. Revenue for the Data Center Group, which offers products for servers, storage and workstations, was $US2.5 billion, up 32 per cent year-over-year.
The company projects second-quarter revenue to be around $US12.8 billion, plus or minus $US500 million.
IBM: solid quarter, raises full-year guidance
IBM reported quarterly sales growth across all its major divisions and raised its earnings outlook for the full year, the latest sign that business spending in the IT sector continues to recover.
IBM's total revenue for the quarter ended March 31 was $US24.6 billion, up 8 per cent from the same quarter last year, or up 5 per cent on a constant currency basis. Net income after one-time charges climbed 10 per cent to $US2.9 billion, IBM said.
Revenue was up in all geographies, with sales growing 12 percent in the Asia-Pacific and 9 per cent in the Americas. The recovery in Europe continued to lag behind, with sales up 3 per cent for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.
"On the strength of this performance, we are raising our full-year 2011 operating earnings per share expectations to at least $US13.15,” IBM Chairman, President and CEO, Sam Palmisano, said in a statement.
Revenue from IBM's global technology services increased 6 per cent to $US9.86 billion, with revenue from global business services up 7 per cent to $US4.7 billion.
Its hardware sales increased 19 per cent to $US4 billion. Within that division, IBM's mainframe business continued its recovery, with 41 per cent sales growth from a year ago, and its Power systems also did well, with sales of those Unix products up 19 per cent, IBM said.
Software revenue climbed 6 per cent to $US5.3 billion. Within that, sales of IBM's middleware, including its Websphere and Tivoli products, were up 16 per cent to $US3.3 billion. Revenue from Websphere alone jumped sharply at 51 per cent, IBM said.
