Friday, July 6, 2012

Investopedia: Early Returns From Tech Not Looking Good

'Tis the season for companies to issue warnings that calendar second quarter earnings are not going to be up to snuff. With investors already jittery about the outlook for tech stocks, July 5, 2012's warnings from Seagate (Nasdaq:STX) and Informatica (Nasdaq:INFA) are not going to the sector any favors.

Seagate - Yes, It's Still a Cyclical Business
As the hard drive company least damaged by the Thai floods, Seagate has been on something of a roll with its operations. That roll has now noticeably slowed. Whereas the company had once guided to "at least $5 billion" in revenue and gross margin of 34.5%, management warned that actual revenue for the quarter will be more on the order of $4.5 billion, while gross margin will be closer to 33.6%. If there's good news here, it's that analysts were already getting more skeptical and cautious, and had been lowering their numbers. Consequently, the announced miss adds up to less than 10% on the top line and about one point on the gross margin line.

Read more here:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2012/Early-Returns-From-Tech-Not-Looking-Good-STX-INFA-WDC-IBM0706.aspx

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