Archived Content

The following content is from an older version of this website, and may not display correctly.

Tech earnings reports are rolling in like Budeweisers in a NASCAR infield, and we've got it covered. What's striking is the range of results, from earnings bombs like Netflix, and Amazon, to solid efforts from blue chips Apple and Microsoft.

Here's our recap of the Winners and Losers of earnings season:

Winners

Apple (APPL): Ho-Hum. Another Apple beat, another pop in the stock. So predictable. It makes us wonder why we wouldn't be laying down bets on an Apple beat as the odds seem significantly better than a Vegas Roulette wheel.

The company earned $3.51 per diluted share in fiscal 2010's third quarter, an increase of 74 percent over the $2.01 Apple made in the same quarter of 2009. The revenue number of $15.7 billion blew away the guidance of $13.4 billion. Let's face it, Apple's a money machine. The only question now is whether iPhone 4 antenna problems will weigh on another record quarter.

The stock initially ramped about 10% on Wednesday but it's come back in since.

Microsoft (MSFT): The Big Ballmer reported fourth-quarter profit of $4.52 billion, or 51 cents a share, compared with the 46-cent consensus. The company sold more software with sales of more personal computers running the Windows operating system. Sales rose 22 percent, the most in more than two years, to $16 billion.

What happened with the stock? The market yawned. Microsoft shares traded down 0.34 (1.32%) this morning.

Adtran (ADTN) & Calix (CALX): We're lumping these two together because they are both part of the “broadband package” we've been following on Rayno Report. The big difference is that Adtran is a larger, profitable company and Calix is relatively young, with a recent IPO.

Adtran announced quarterly Earnings Per Share (EPS) of .44, whereas consensus expecations were for .35. The stock was recently at new 52-week highs. Calix, meanwhile, recently reported the first quarter after its IPO. The loss was smaller than expected and revenue ramped 50% from the year-ago period, causing the stock to rally 10%.

BOMBS

Netflix (NFLX): What's fun about Netflix, like Amazon, is it's the latest technology momentum stock, so its fun to watch the stock get beaten like a pinata on an earnings report. But really, we like the company, it's got a great business model.

The company beat on the profit side, reporting 80 cents per share compared with 54 cents per share in the year-ago period. Consensus expectations were for 70 cents per share.But concerns about marketing expenses and revenue weiged on the stock. As Eric Savitz pointed out in his Barron's blog, it was Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) that caught investors' eyes.

On Thursday, the stock was hammered for 14%.

Keep in mind: This is what happens when massive expectations get built into a mo-mo stock with a high P/E ratio. Presto, Netflix is still a good company, and it's a lot cheaper than it was two days ago, but still pricey. At 120, it was a ridiculously pricey stock. At 80, it will be palatable. It's somewhere in the middle right now.

Amazon (AMZN): Whew, what a stinker. If you think the theme in Netflix was concern over its ability to expand, take a look at Amazon. Amazon reported net income of $207 million, or 45 cents a share, up from $142 million, or 32 cents a share a year earlier. Problem was, the Street was expecting 54 cents. Whoops! Revenue was $6.57 billion, up from $4.65 billion in the last last year.

The stock got whacked hard after hours on Thursday, and looks like it will trade down (up to 12%) on Friday, primarily based on concern over higher expenses and the earnings miss. Excitement over the e-books business is muted, mostly because Amazon is not disclosing those numbers (hard to get excited about something that's hidden in the dark, yeah?).

Yahoo (YHOO): Another downer. Yahoo announced earnings of $213.3 million, or $0.15 per share, compared to $141.2 million, or $0.10 per share, in the same quarter last year. This actual came in slightly about analyst expectations, but the revenu number, $1.13 billion, fell short.

Yahoo plunged about 10% on Wednesday. Much of the fall might be attributed to dialed-back guidance, as executives on the conference call said several majoj advertisers were scaling back plans.