Article Abstract:
Apple lost $120 million in 1st qtr FY 1997, while Sun Microsystems posted record earnings and revenues for its second quarter. For 1st qtr FY 1997, Apple's revenues totaled $2.13 billion, 32% below the $3.15 billion in revenues earned in 1st qtr FY 1996. Apple said the loss was due in part to slow Christmas-time sales of its Performa systems and the rebates and price cuts made to sell those systems. The company was unable to meet demand for its Powerbook 1400 notebooks, creating a backlog of $200 million. The company said it expects to regain profitability by 4th qtr FY 1997. Officials also claim the company is maintaining its recovery and has a sound financial position. Apple ended the quarter with $1.8 billion in cash. Sun's second quarter ended with earnings of $178.3 million, a 41% increase from the $126 million earned in the same period on year earlier. Sales rose 19% to $2.08 billion. Sun's success was based on new products and its smooth delivery of those products.
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Article Abstract:
DEC announces that earnings for 3rd qtr FY 1996 will not meet analysts' forecasts, sending the company's stock into a 16.7% fall and raising questions about the future of the computer industry in general. DEC shares closed at $56 on Mar 20, 1996, down $11.25. DEC attributes its reduced forecast to slow PC sales, a problem affecting the entire industry. DEC earns almost 20% of its revenue from PCs, making its earnings vulnerable to the PC slowdown, despite the company's current strengths in its other businesses including its line of servers. Some believe DEC may see an upturn, since it aggressively targets the Windows NT market, and Microsoft reports that sales of the operating system have recently increased. For the industry as a whole, vendors and analysts must determine whether the recent slowdown in PC sales is a long-term or shot-term situation.
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Article Abstract:
IBM's AS 400 minicomputer remains a popular system with growing sales despite being based on IBM's proprietary technology. The AS 400 division of IBM was one of the significant contributors to the company's recent financial turnaround with sales increasing by 25% in the second half of 1994. The AS 400 was introduced in 1988 and was originally based on host terminal technology. IBM has since migrated the system to a client server architecture and has also worked to make the system more open. The AS 400 is priced anywhere from $10,000 to $1 million, depending on configuration, and competes with smaller mainframes as well as file servers. The system is currently the most popular multi-user product and there are over 300,000 systems installed worldwide.
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