Wall Street

Pandora's Mobile Biz Tunes in Q1 Growth
May 24, 2013

Pandora's boost in Q1 revenue, thanks largely to an increase in subscribers who want to listen to ad-free Internet radio, helped the streaming media company turn in a quarterly report Thursday that beat expectations. The Internet radio service reported $126 million in revenue, a 55 percent increase from the same period last year and higher than the $124 million analysts predicted.

Marketing, Big Data Tech IPOs Get Rousing Market Welcome
May 20, 2013

Marketo and Tableau Software are having strong launches as public companies, indicating investors are excited about the growth in enterprise software markets that target niches such as Big Data and marketing automation. Tableau Software, which designs data visualization software that helps businesses manage information, trades under the appropriate ticker symbol DATA.

Dell's Weak Q1 Earnings Throw Fuel on Buyout Fire
May 17, 2013

Dell's quarterly earnings fell short of Wall Street expectations this week, leading to more questions about whether or not shareholders will accept Michael Dell's buyout offer and regroup as a private company. The PC maker reported a net income of $130 million, or 7 cents per share, during its most recent quarter.

Cisco's Data Center Sales Spark Q1 Earnings
May 16, 2013

Cisco's quarterly earnings report beat Wall Street expectations this week, giving investors a hint of confidence in the constantly evolving tech industry. The networking company reported a net income of $2.48 billion, or 46 cents per share. That's up from the $2.17 billion it earned during the same time last year. Revenue was up 5.4 percent to $12.22 billion.

Groupon Regroups With Q1 Revenue Gains, Mobile Growth
May 09, 2013

Groupon reported a better than expected first quarter thanks to strong North American revenue growth and an uptick in mobile customers. That helped send the daily deal website's stock soaring Wednesday. The company reported revenue of $601.4 million, an 8 percent jump from the $559.3 million during the same time last year.

Huawei Founder Speaks
May 09, 2013

Ren Zhengfei, the founder and CEO of Huawei Technologies, spoke to the media for the first time on Thursday. Ren, formerly a member of the Chinese military, has been the focal point of Western skepticism toward Huawei -- which resulted in the company being barred from a broadband project in Australia, as well as being labeled as untrustworthy in a U.S. House Intelligence report.

T-Mobile Enjoys Strong but Limited iPhone 5 Q1 Bounce
May 08, 2013

T-Mobile sold approximately 500,000 iPhone 5 handsets since their April 12 launch with the carrier, the company announced Tuesday during its Q1 earnings report. T-Mobile -- the last of the major carriers to offer Apple's smartphone -- attributed those sales to a combination of new and existing customers.

LinkedIn's Bright Q1 Dimmed by Weaker Forecast
May 03, 2013

Despite revenue gains that beat expectations for LinkedIn's quarterly earnings report Thursday, investors sent the company's stock falling when the company forecast lower-than-expected guidance. LinkedIn reported revenue of $324.7 million for its most recent quarter, a 72 percent jump from the 188.5 million it brought in a year earlier.

Facebook Revs Its Mobile Ad Engine in Q1
May 02, 2013

Facebook on Wednesday beat analyst expectations for revenue in its first quarter earnings and showed slight growth in the increasingly important mobile advertising space. The world's largest social network reported revenue of $1.46 billion, a 38 percent bump from the same time a year ago. Net income jumped to $219 million, a 6.8 percent increase.

Study: Google Trends Doubles as Dow Jones Crystal Ball
April 29, 2013

Data from Google Trends could be useful for predicting the ups and downs of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, according to new research published in Scientific Reports. The new information from study authors Tobias Preis, Suzy Moat and H. Eugene Stanley looked at investing based on certain finance-related trending search terms, and how it could yield much higher returns than the average portfolio.

Amazon Droops Following Profit-Light Q1 Report
April 26, 2013

The market digested the earnings report Amazon released on Thursday, and toward the end of trading Friday it was clear investors were less than pleased, with the company's stock down by about 6.5 percent. Little wonder: Amazon reported that its net income decreased 37 percent to $82 million in the first quarter, compared with $130 million in the first quarter of 2012.

MetroPCS Shareholders Bless T-Mobile Union
April 25, 2013

T-Mobile can breathe a sigh of relief: After an initial show of reluctance by MetroPCS Communication investors, 80 percent approved its sale to T-Mobile at a special shareholder meeting held on Wednesday. T-Mobile reportedly sweetened its bid for the company to bring on board those shareholders who felt the original offer undervalued MetroPCS.

No Extra Points for Zynga's Strong Q1
April 25, 2013

Zynga reported an unexpectedly strong Q1 this week, but investors chose to focus on its lower guidance for future growth in the casual gaming industry. The company brought in $264 million in revenue on the quarter, down 18 percent from the same time a year ago but beating estimates that were closer to $209 million. Despite those results, investors sent the company's stock sliding by about nine percent in after-hours trading.

Q1 Wireless Gains Can't Help AT&T Chase Down Verizon
April 24, 2013

AT&T slightly missed analyst expectations on its first quarter earnings report this week, despite solid growth on the wireless data side of the business and record smartphone sales. The company reported net income of $3.7 billion, a slight increase from the $3.6 billion it reported a year earlier. At $31.34 billion, revenues were down 1.4 percent from the previous year.

Apple's Mixed Earnings Bag Includes Stock Sweetener
April 24, 2013

For any company in the world, a quarter with revenues of $43.6 billion and profits of $9.5 billion would be cause for celebration. Unfortunately, Apple isn't any company. "Apple beat highly lowered expectations for the quarter," said Trip Chowdhry, managing director for equity research at Global Equities Research. Apple's numbers disappointed financial analysts.

Netflix Plays Its Q1 Cards Right
April 23, 2013

The market is popping champagne corks over Netflix's latest earnings report. A day after the company delivered boffo results and beat Street expectations for the first quarter, its stock has soared by some 25 percent. Netflix posted net income of $3 million, compared with a loss of $5 million a year ago. Profits were 31 cents a share, far more than analysts' expectations of 20 cents.

Microsoft Catches Activist Investor's Eye
April 22, 2013

Activist investor ValueAct Capital has invested US$2 billion in Microsoft, according to a report on CNBC Monday morning. Wall Street immediately reacted, driving the company's share price to $31.18 from its usual perch at $30.27 per share. That is the highest level the stock has since in the last seven months.

Cook Replacement Rumors Smolder
April 22, 2013

Steve Jobs left big shoes to fill, and rumors circulated this week that Apple CEO Tim Cook may not be living up to expectations. This comes as Apple's stock closed at a 52-week low last Friday. Adding to the company's misery, Apple reportedly has earned the nickname "Poison Apple" with some Asian suppliers who are finding its high standards and low price expectations somewhat hard to meet.

Mobile Ads Show Life in Google Q1 Earnings
April 19, 2013

Google released a quarterly earnings report Thursday that beat estimates and also showed the company may be coming to grips with the problem of monetizing its mobile platform. The tech giant reported net income of $3.35 billion, or $9.94 per share during the first three months of the year, a 16 percent jump from the same time a year ago. Google's first-quarter revenue was $13.97 billion, a 31 percent increase from a year earlier.

Icelandic App Aims to Prevent Accidental Incest
April 18, 2013

Before knocking boots, knock phones. Three software engineers at the University of Iceland have designed an app to alert people if a casual encounter might in fact be casual incest. By bumping their mobile devices together, the app lets users -- and potential partners -- instantly compare their lineage, showing the nearest common ancestors. If a close relative is detected, users are alerted via an alarm and text warning.