Google stocks slump despite record $14 billion quarter

Despite a big announcement around the corner and the critical acclaim its Nexus 7 tablet has received Google had a shock yesterday when its shares actually dropped

 

Google have posted a record breaking quarter with revenues of $14.10 billion but an embarrassing leak of the results early in the day whilst the stock market was still open resulted in a sharp decrease in value of shares because the results didn’t meet expectations.

Google blamed financial printer PR Donnelley for the mistake which capped an embarrassing day for it as YouTube went offline and the release of Google’s new Samsung Chromebook was leaked early.

The SEC document, which is provided to the stock market and investors was leaked so early that it lacked any comment from Google on the results and had a placeholder marked “PENDING LARRY QUOTE” referring to Larry Page, CEO of Google.

The document showed Google reporting $14.10 billion in revenue and EPS of $6.53, which missed most analyst predictions - they were expecting $14.7 billion in revenue. The stock quickly began to suffer; going down around 9% by the time trading was halted at 12:50 pm US Eastern time.

All in all revenues were reported as being up 45 percent compared with Q3 2011, but GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) net income was down 20 percent year-over-year to $2.18 billion ($6.53 per share), as compared with $2.73 billion in Q3 2011 ($8.33 per share). The decline was due to rising costs.

In a statement following the leak Google's CEO Larry Page remained positive about Google's future saying,

"Now we took a big bet on Android back in 2005. We believed that aligning standards around an open source operating system would drive innovation across the industry. Most people thought we were nuts."

"Today there are over half a billion Android devices-half a billion - with 1.3 million more being activated every day. You should all run out and buy the Nexus 7 tablet for $199. It’s had rave reviews and recently won “Gadget of the Year” from T3, the gadget experts."

Motorola’s hardware business brought in $2.58 billion in revenue ($1.78 billion from mobile and $797 million from home). Its operating loss was $527 million. However, despite the loss from Motorola that extra revenue pushed Google over the $14 billion mark for the first time in 14 years.

Google are expected to announce new products on October 29^th at their New York press event which will most likely involve a new flagship Nexus phone and high resolution retina-display style tablet

Source : rss[dot]feedsportal[dot]com

Nokia reports £787m loss but shares rise

Nokia's shares have risen sharply in Helsinki, despite a record sixth consecutive year where the Finnish company made a loss

 

Nokia announced today that sales of its flagship Lumia range during its third quarter are down 19% from the same period last year. In real terms, the company shifted 2.9 million phones compared to 4 million in 2011.

The latest figures make for disappointing reading, especially considering Nokia was the biggest manufacturer of phones in the world for more than a decade. But the Finnish firm continues to lag behind the likes of Apple and Samsung in the innovation (and marketing) department.

But hold on just a second, there could be light at the end of the tunnel. Shares in Nokia increased in value by 9 percent following the announcement thanks to better-than-expected results and a licensing agreement struck with Amazon.

Nokia and Amazon agreed a deal in back August to bring Nokia Maps exclusively to the Kindle family of tablets.

Part of the reason for Nokia's ropey financial performance this year is the announcement that Microsoft would not update existing WP7 Lumias to Windows Phone 8.

Nokia chief Stephen Elop stated the slow down in the second half of the quarter was due to users holding out for the WP8-toting Lumia 920 and 820 handsets arriving from early November.

The Finnish company continues to ship feature phones and posted Q3 sales of 76.6 million units - up four per cent quarter-on-quarter. But again - that total is still down 15 percent year-on-year.

Back in smartphone land, Microsoft is due to announce Windows Phone 8 on October 29^th where they are expected to openly demonstrate the new Nokia Lumia smartphones amongst their other device manufacturers.

Source : rss[dot]feedsportal[dot]com