Technology vendors release mixed quarterly financial results
Intel and Motorola experience slumps in profit, while IBM and EMC go from strength to strength. Big Blue's profit rocketed to $2.2bn for the third quarter, an increase of 47 per cent year on year. Meanwhile Intel saw its profit drop by 35 per cent for the quarter.
Several vendors reported a mixed bag of financial results last week, proving the IT sector is still unsteady.
Chip giant Intel reported profit down 35 per cent, year on year for its third quarter 2006. The vendor reported $1.3bn profit on turnover of $8.7bn for Q3 2006. However, when compared with Q2 2006 this is up 47 per cent and nine per cent respectively.
Paul Otellini, chief executive of Intel, said he was pleased with the firm’s performance over the quarter.
“[We had] record mobile and server processor shipments, strong manufacturing execution and quad-core processors,” he said.
Intel expects Q4 2006 turnover to be between $9.1bn and $9.7bn.
Also down was Motorola, which reported a drop in Q3 profits to $968m when compared with the $1,7bn it reported for Q3 2005. Sales for the quarter were up slightly by 17 per cent at $10.6bn.
However, both IBM and EMC bucked the trend, reporting positive results.
Big Blue reported profit up 47 per cent year on year. For Q3 2006 the firm reported $2.2bn profit, compared with $1.5 in the same quarter a year ago. Turnover was also up to $22.6bn year on year, with EMEA revenues up six per cent, double when compared to the US, to $7.3bn. Software grew by nine per cent, global services grew by three per cent, and hardware by eight per cent.
Sam Palmisano, IBM chief executive, said the results were due to the “repositioning of IBM’s business model to capture the growth areas of a rapidly changing IT industry”.
EMC also reported a healthy Q3, recording its 13th consecutive quarter of growth. The storage giant reported turnover for Q3 2006 at $2.8bn, up 19 per cent on Q3 2005.
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