q3
Latest
Intel earnings beat company records: $14.3 billion revenue, $3.7 billion net income
Apple may not have fared as well as expected in its own Q4, but just up the road in Silicon Valley Intel managed to exceed analyst predictions, posting record revenue of $14.3 billion -- up $3.2 billion, or 29 percent year-over-year. The company also set new records for microprocessor units shipped, and expects further growth over the next quarter, with notebook computer sales driving $14.7 billion in predicted Q4 revenue. Jump past the break for an in-depth look at the company's Q3, along with its outlook for the next quarter.
Google announces Q3 earnings: $9.72 billion in revenue, $2.73 billion net income, 40 million Google+ users
Google's just announced its third quarter earnings and, as expected, the company's numbers are continuing on the upswing (even beating expectations). That includes $9.72 billion in revenue, which represents a 33 percent jump compared to the third quarter of 2010, along with $2.73 billion in net income, which is up from $2.17 billion a year ago. Somewhat notably, Google also choose to lead off its press release announcing the financial results (included after the break) with the news that Google+ has just passed the 40 million user mark -- the company further notes that "people are flocking into Google+ at an incredible rate." There's not a ton of surprises to be found in the results otherwise, although Larry Page and co. sure seem to be busy hiring new folks -- they've brought on 10 percent more employees in the span of three months (for a total of 31,353 full-time employees as of September 30th). Update: During the company's earnings call, CEO Larry Page confirmed that there's now 190 million Android phones activated around the world, and 200 million users of the Chrome web browser (although it's not clear how many of those are active users). Page also took a moment to post his remarks to Google+ during the call.
HTC's unaudited Q3 results keep the revenue train a-rollin'
HTC clearly couldn't wait for a pesky audit to tell let the world about its continued financial successes. The Taiwanese handset maker posted unaudited consolidated results for the third quarter -- and, not surprisingly, things are (continuing) to look good for the company. HTC marked a 79.07-percent growth over this time last year, with NT$135,821 million ($4.4 billion) total revenue. And according to HTC, the company's net income post-taxes was NT$18,638 million ($612 million) for the quarter. We'll update the results when we get something a bit more official.
Netflix admits it will end up with fewer subscribers than predicted, shrinks DVD-only count
Back in July, after announcing it would decouple unlimited movie streaming from unlimited DVD rentals and charge more to keep both, Netflix predicted it would end up with 25 million subscribers at the end of Q3. This morning it advised investors that prediction has been slashed by 1 million, however most of that shortfall is predicted to come from fewer DVD-only customers than expected, which is expected to come up 800,000 short. While we'll still have to wait for the actual Q3 results to see how things pan out, the company still claims its projection of 12 million subscribers to both services is right on. While it backtracked on the total numbers, it also outlined its reasoning for raising prices by improving the DVD business, raising more cash to spend on streaming licensing and ultimately "remain price aggressive" and keep its individual offerings at $7.99 each. Much of the kicking and screaming online indicted Netflix's streaming library for failing to live up to the new price, anyone surprised many cutters seem to be coming from the DVD-only side?
Foxconn posts $943 million net profit for first half of 2011, 20 million iPad 2s coming for Q3?
It looks like 2011 is shaping up to be a solid year for Foxconn. Earlier this week, the hardware manufacturer announced net profits of NT$27.38 billion (about $943.72 million) for the first half of this year, just a few months after posting a disappointing $218 million loss for all of 2010. These figures, however, are down about 21 percent from the first six months of last year, when Foxconn (AKA Hon Hai Precision) reported net profits of NT$34.74 billion (around $1.2 billion). In a statement, Hon Hai said its first semester results were "as expected and remain seasonal," considering today's harsh and uncertain financial climate. DigiTimes, meanwhile, is reporting that the electronics maker is "expected" to ship a full 20 million new iPad 2s during the third quarter of this year, though the Taiwan-based news outlet didn't offer much in the way of explanation or sourcing.
Bastion coming to PC on August 16, soundtrack available right now
Xbox Live Arcade's Bastion has gotten its launch date on the PC. Bastion will be available as a $14.99 download on Steam August 16, one day before From Dust debuts on the platform. You're getting two Summer of Arcade goodies in one week! Additionally, we'd like to point out that the Bastion soundtrack is currently available as a $10 download, replete with a new narration intro and bonus track, "The Pantheon (Ain't Gonna Catch You)." If you're looking for an actual physical disc, maybe to clutch against your bosom tightly as you fall asleep at night -- hey, no judgment here -- then you can shell out $15. The actual CD comes in a custom wallet, featuring original art by Jen Zee and (optionally) signed by composer Darren Korb. If you're really distrustful of your mail man (or don't want to wait until September when the disc ships), you can snag the album at PAX Prime in Seattle at the end of the month. Before you go diving into those beautiful tunes, take some of our advice: the songs are definitely best heard first in-game.
Apple Q3 2011 earnings released: Impressive, most impressive. (Updated)
Apple hit another home run in the third quarter of 2011. Total revenue for the quarter reached US$28.57 billion, as compared to $15.70 billion in the same quarter last year. Earnings per diluted share were $7.79, as compared to $3.51 last year. Net profit reached a staggering $7.31 B. All of these figures crushed the professional analyst estimates and even surpassed some of the more optimistic amateur AAPL watchers, as tracked by Phil Elmer-Dewitt. Sales numbers for Apple's lineup of products are as follows: 3.95 M Macs (14% year-over-year unit increase) 20.34 M iPhones (142% yoy increase) 7.54 M iPods (20% yoy decrease) 9.25 M iPads (183% yoy increase) That earnings per share number is really quite amazing; it's more than double the number from last year. Additional details will be available in the earnings conference call at 5 pm ET. We'll be listening in to the conference call and liveblogging all the fun -- join in! Show full PR text Apple Reports Third Quarter Results All-Time Record Revenue and Earnings iPhone Sales Grow 142 Percent; iPad Sales Grow 183 Percent CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2011 third quarter ended June 25, 2011. The Company posted record quarterly revenue of $28.57 billion and record quarterly net profit of $7.31 billion, or $7.79 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $15.70 billion and net quarterly profit of $3.25 billion, or $3.51 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 41.7 percent compared to 39.1 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 62 percent of the quarter's revenue. "Right now, we're very focused and excited about bringing iOS 5 and iCloud to our users this fall." The Company sold 20.34 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 142 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.25 million iPads during the quarter, a 183 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 3.95 million Macs during the quarter, a 14 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 7.54 million iPods, a 20 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. "We're thrilled to deliver our best quarter ever, with revenue up 82 percent and profits up 125 percent," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Right now, we're very focused and excited about bringing iOS 5 and iCloud to our users this fall." "We are extremely pleased with our performance which drove quarterly cash flow from operations of $11.1 billion, an increase of 131 percent year-over-year," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. "Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $25 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $5.50." Apple will provide live streaming of its Q3 2011 financial results conference call beginning at 2:00 p.m. PDT on July 19, 2011 at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq311.
WSJ: Apple prepping thinner, lighter iPhone 5
The Wall Street chimed in with its insider information on the rumored iPhone 5. According to the report, Apple's next generation iPhone will be thinner and lighter than the iPhone 4. It also may include an 8-megapixel camera, which is a nice boost from the 5-megapixel shooter on the current model. Qualcomm will supposedly provide the wireless baseband chips which suggests the handset may be a world phone capable of connecting to both CDMA and GSM networks. Apple apparently expects the iPhone 5 to be popular and has warned suppliers it plans to ship 25 million units by the end of the year. Foxconn will be the assembler for the rumored iPhone, but these yields may be lower than Apple wants as the iPhone 5 is described as being complicated and difficult to assemble. We're not sure what that means, but it is intriguing.
Samsung's 22-inch Transparent BLU LCD TV shipping next week, eyes-on at SID 2011 (video)
We weren't actually allowed to get our hands on Samsung's 22-inch Transparent BLU LCD TV -- the showcase was accompanied by a "Do not touch" label -- but we were able to get our first in-the-flesh look at the see-through display at SID this week. According to Sammy's rep, the monitors, which can operate with or without a backlight, will start shipping to manufacturers as soon as this week, but consumers will have to wait until Q3 to get their hands on one. While our hands remained mostly at our sides during our little meeting, we did sneak them behind the display to see just how transparent these things are. Sure enough, we could see our phalanges wiggling quite clearly through the ghostly panel. When the backlight was flipped on, the screen became a touch more opaque, but didn't fully obstruct the view of the potted plants lurking in the background. For now, the screens are focused on the commercial market -- specifically advertising -- but we wouldn't mind adding one of these things to our living room. Hop on past the break for a little video love. %Gallery-123858%
Xbox 360 sees record fiscal Q3 sales, Kinect sold 2.4M units in quarter
Microsoft reports results were up across the board in its fiscal-year third quarter (ending March 31, 2011), with the Redmond giant's Entertainment & Devices Division (EDD) -- that's Xbox and other stuff -- one of the standouts, enjoying 60 percent growth year-over-year. The group generated $1.94 billion in revenue and saw $225 million in profit in Q3, up 50 percent from the same period last fiscal year. 2.7 million Xbox 360 units were sold during the quarter, a new record for the console in Q3 sales (and up 70 percent over last year). Kinect sales followed suit with 2.4 million units sold in the quarter -- and passed the 10-million mark to boot. Microsoft expects revenue growth of at least 25 percent for the EDD during Q4, with "more to be shared at E3 in June." Overall, thanks to strong sales of Windows 7, Microsoft recorded Q3 revenues of $16.43 billion and a net income of $5.23 billion.
Microsoft announces record Q3 earnings: $16.43 billion revenue, $5.23 billion net income
Well, it looks like the record quarters from tech companies just keep on coming -- this time it's Microsoft, which just reported $16.43 billion in revenue in its third-quarter results, a jump of 13 percent from the previous year, and well ahead of analysts' expectations. Net income clocked in at $5.23 billion, a whopping 31 percent increase from the previous year, with Microsoft citing strong sales of Office 2010, Xbox and Kinect as key driving factors. The company also reiterated that it's sold a staggering 350 million Windows 7 licenses so far, and said that its Entertainment & Devices Division has grown a full 60 percent year-over-year -- again, largely fueled by those record-setting sales of Kinect and continued strong sales of Xbox 360 consoles and Xbox Live. As for Windows Phone, Microsoft unfortunately isn't providing much in the way of specifics -- on its earnings call, it only went as far as to say that "product reviews are good" and "customer satisfaction is high," and that developer interest has increased following its announcement of the Nokia partnership. It was unsurprisingly a bit more eager to divulge specifics for its gaming business, though, and revealed that it sold 2.4 million Kinect sensors in Q3, along with 2.7 million Xbox 360 consoles -- the latter of which is a new third quarter record for the company.
AMD's quad-core Llano APUs pegged for Q3 2011 release, Computex unveiling
X-bit labs has a (pretty massive) scoop of AMD info to share with us this week, as it has put together the above chart detailing what it expects the company's APU roadmap will look like for the remainder of the year. Published a couple of days ago, this data has now been partially corroborated by the snoops over at DigiTimes, who confirm a couple of the model names and agree that AMD is planning an initial Q3 rollout of five Llano chips, to be followed by even more processors coming in Q4 of 2011. Llano represents AMD's play for the performance crown, coming as it does with dual- or quad-core processing units, DirectX 11-capable Radeon HD 6000-series graphics, and a dual-channel DDR3 memory controller, all bundled up inside the same warm and toasty package. More E-series APUs for power-conscious users are also said to be on the cards, and AMD itself should be making these plans official at Computex in Taipei come early June. It's a bit of a wait, but we've got a feeling it'll be worth it.
Atari revenue down, but MMO business blooming
Without an equivalent of the Ghostbusters game, Atari's revenue for the nine-month period from April 1 through December 31, 2010 was, well, a bit busted. Through the first three quarters of its current fiscal year, the publisher has reported €41.0 million ($55.3 million) in revenue, down 55.7 percent from the same period in 2009. However, Atari doesn't seem too bugged by the decline. In its latest earnings release, CEO Jim Wilson said that current-year revenues are "in line with our outlook and show a continued shift toward fewer but more profitable retail releases and the growing online games market." And, in fact, Atari's online revenue has increased by €15.3 million year-over-year to €18.4 million ($24.8 million) through nine months, thanks to Champions Online and Star Trek Online. Revenue from online games represented a whopping 44.9 percent of Atari's total net revenue for the period, compared to just 3.4 percent in the first nine months of its previous fiscal year.
Dance games made it rain on Ubisoft's holiday quarter
Ubisoft today reported sales figures for its fiscal-year third quarter, which ended December 31, 2010. For the period, the French publisher recorded €600 million ($809 million) in total software sales, up just over 21 percent from the same quarter in 2009 (though factoring in constant exchange rates -- nearly 60 percent of sales were made in North America -- year-over-year growth was closer to 15 percent). In 2010's three-month holiday period alone, Ubisoft shipped a staggering 10.5 million copies of dance titles, which included Just Dance, Just Dance 2, Just Dance Kids, Michael Jackson: The Experience and Dance on Broadway. Additionally, the company claimed an 18 percent market share of the Kinect platform in the US (and 21 percent in Europe), following its push to become the "top third-party publisher" for Microsoft's successful motion-control add-on. Ubisoft put its Kinect game shipments at over 2 million -- "a very nice level of profitability," CEO Yves Guillemot said in an investor call today -- for the fiscal third quarter. Add in all those copies of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and Ubisoft outsold its projected quarterly sales total by €80 million ($108 million), bringing its nine-month fiscal 2010-11 year sales up to €861 million ($1.16 billion) -- a marked increase over the €661 million in sales generated during the same period in 2009, and making it a near certainty that the company will return to profitability at the end of its current fiscal year (on March 31, 2011). With a relatively quiet fourth quarter of scheduled releases, however, the publisher anticipates its total fiscal-year sales to reach only €1.02 billion. Still, "cash flow generation is expected to be positive."
Mad Catz posts record sales, income up 70% in fiscal Q3
Mad Catz has posted record sales for its fiscal third quarter, which ended December 31. Net sales of $92.9 million have been reported by the company, up from $48.7 million during the same period last year. The company reported net income (i.e. profit) of $9.69 million, up from $5.59 million during the same period last year, an increase of over 70 percent. The report does note, however, that gross profit margin -- an expression of how much money is earned versus how much is spent -- is slightly down over last year. The primary reason for the decreased margin is attributed to "a shift in the Company's sales mix which included higher levels of licensed products." In other words, all those popular game licenses aren't cheap. Still, this marks the second quarter in a row that Mad Catz has posted record results, so we doubt anyone is too broken up about it.
Take-Two revenue down, but profit earned in latest quarterly results
The last time we checked in on Take-Two's quarterly earnings the publisher was operating on a different fiscal calendar -- and had regained profitability. Today, the company introduced its recalibrated fiscal year, reporting on the third quarter results of its fiscal 2011 year -- in our world: October–December 2010. Revenue was down for the quarter, recorded at $334.3 million, compared to the $360.4 million for "the year-ago period," though Take-Two remained profitable, reporting a non-GAAP income of $49.5 million. The usual culprits were bringing home the bacon for the period, including Red Dead Redemption, Borderlands, and Grand Theft Auto IV (now in its "Complete Edition" form). Through the first nine months of the current fiscal year (April–Dec. 2010) revenue jumped 80 percent from the previous year, reaching $954.6 million. Take-Two expects to trot past the billion-dollar mark this quarter as the sun sets on its fiscal 2011 (ending March 31) and has increased its projected annual revenue to $1.10 billion.
Sega Sammy posts profitable third quarter, Vanquish moves 820K
Sega Sammy's financial results for the nine months ending December 31, 2010 showed marked upswings in overall sales and profit for the company. While the majority of money came through its pachinko and amusement arm, game publishing saw ¥67.4 billion ($826 million) in revenue and ¥2.8 billion ($34.3 million) in profit -- both notable increases since the company's last check-in. Hidden among the many, many financial numbers was news that Platinum Games' fourth effort, Vanquish, had sold 820,000 copies since its release in late October, while Sonic Colors had moved a whopping 1,850,000 by the end of 2010. That's alotta hedgehog! The majority of the company's overall sales took place in Europe (owing to sales of Football Manager 2011), with the US following closely behind and Japan in a distant third.
Square Enix profits plummet, but loss avoided to close out 2010
The potentially lucrative holiday quarter -- Q3 of Square Enix's fiscal year -- didn't bring a slowdown to the publisher's sinking profits. Instead, the company slid closer to landing in the red as 2010 came to an end. For the nine months ending December 31, 2010, Square Enix today reported a net income of ¥1.821 billion ($22.33 million), a 76.6 percent decrease in profits from the same period the year before. When the iPhone port of Secret of Mana is perhaps your most significant release during the holidays, what more can you expect? Accordingly, net sales in the nine-month period were also down year-over-year (though just by 27.5 percent) for the business, which (aside from games) includes amusement, publication and merchandising products. Speaking of games, the holiday quarter didn't push any additional Square Enix titles into coveted "million-seller" status -- only Kane & Lynch 2 and Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 (Japan only) have reached a million in sales during the company's current fiscal year (ending March 31, 2011), and both had done so by the end of last September. "Responding to intensifying competition in the console game market, the company has implemented organizational changes in the third quarter while also working to better select and further strengthen our most competitive titles," Square Enix president Yoichi Wada offered in a short statement accompanying the financial report. "In other platform areas including PCs and smartphones, we have created successful examples of new content such as Nicotto Town and Sengoku Ixa," Wada added. "By pursuing these two independent markets, we are raising our ability to succeed in diverse business models." So diversified has Square Enix become, in fact, that this is the first we've ever heard of these two "successful" projects! [Pictured: Nicotto Town; image source: nifty.co.jp]
Sony posts $887 million net profit, PlayStation has strong holiday quarter
Sony had quite a good holiday during its third quarter for fiscal year 2010, posting a ¥137.5 billion (approximately US $1.68b) operating income. Year-over-year, however, it's actually six percent lower than Q3 FY09, with some blame attributable to a five percent stronger yen. Although sales were more or less the same in most divisions (with pictures and music seeing a more noticeable drop), operating income saw dramatic changes. Consumer, Professional and Devices dropped 47 percent to ¥26.8b ($327.3m), while Networked Products and Services (which includes the PlayStation brand) jumped a whopping 134 percent to ¥45.7b ($559.78). Looking at unit sales, Bravia sets were way up (7.9m units versus 5.4m in Q3 FY09), and video cameras, compact digital cameras, and PCs all saw moderate gains. PSP hardware took a pretty big hit, going from 4.2m last holiday to 3.6m this past quarter (the now-profitable PlayStation 3 saw a slight decline, 6.5m to 6.3m). Software-wise, though, both gaming machines saw a bump -- 57.6m (from 47.6m) for PS3 and 16.4m (from 15m) for PSP. The PlayStation 2, now almost 11 years old, actually had about the same 2.1m hardware unit sales YOY, though software took a pretty hard hit (from 11.2m to 5.3m). Sony's golden years console isn't going down without a fight -- then again, it might've been a different story had the company managed to add backwards compatibility to the PS3.
Sony posts strong Q3 profits (+135%!) in PlayStation group
Despite a small 6% dip in quarterly sales year-over-year, "due to a decrease in sales in the game business resulting primarily from unfavorable foreign exchange rates," Sony's Networked Products & Services group, which houses its PlayStation brand, posted an impressive ¥45.7 billion (rougly $564 million) in profits for the third quarter period, ended December 31, an impressive 135% boost over the prior-year period. "The game business benefited from significant cost reductions of PlayStation 3 ("PS3") hardware and higher unit sales of PS3 software," the earnings report reads. Though quarterly sales of both the PlayStation 3 and PSP lagged year-over-year, Sony is forecasting 15 million PS3 consoles sold for the fiscal year, compared to 13 million for the year prior. Coupled with the aforementioned "cost reductions" and significant bumps in PlayStation 3 software sales, things are looking up in PS3-land. Over in PSP and PS2 land, things aren't so bright. The PSP, recently stricken by hardware obsolescence, is forecasted to sell eight million units for the year, versus nearly ten million last year, while the PS2 is on track to rack up six million in sales, compared to over seven million last year. Toss in some profitability on the PSN front – Sony's working on it – and fiscal 2011 is looking bright for Sony.
