Major Tech Earnings Upon Us (AAPL, AMZN, MSFT, YHOO)

This is going to be an extremely busy week for earnings in all industries, but tech investors will have a foursome that they will be watching ever so closely.  These four are  Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO).  Keep in mind, that some of these estimates will change slightly before the reports as other companies report and as analysts make their last minute tweaks.

After the close of the market on Tuesday, we’ll get to see earnings out of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and get hopefully one more glimpse of what is going on inside Jerry Yang’s head.  The search engine and content giant is expected to post earnings of $0.09 EPS on $1.32 Billion revenues (ex-TAC revenues).  For Q2, it is expected to post $0.11 EPS on revenues of $1.37 Billion; and for fiscal 2008 it is expected to see $0.44 EPS on $5.62 Billion.  Steve Ballmer already put the heat on the company in his last written gesture after the buyout offer by noting Yahoo!’s core business has softened and the economy has softened, and he even warned that he’d make a lower offer if Microsoft has to go hostile.

Wednesday after the close we’ll get to see earnings out of Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). The estimates for the retail web-site manufacturer from First Call are $0.32 EPS on $4.09 billion in revenues.  Next quarter estimates are $0.29 EPS on $3.85 billion in revenues. Estimates for fiscal Dec-2008 are $1.54 EPS on $19.29 billion in revenues. Analysts have an average price target north of $86.00, and Amazon’s 52-week trading range is $44.16 to $101.09. With this stock doing much better than many of the other web retailers it will be interesting to see how the company guides for 2008 as the economy is still softening.

Wednesday after the close we’ll get to see earnings out of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL). The estimates for the computer, mobile music players, and cell phone maker from First Call are $1.06 EPS on $6.95 billion in revenues.  Next quarter estimates are $1.10 EPS on $7.14 billion in revenues. Estimates for fiscal Sept-2008 are $5.15 EPS on $31.65 billion in revenues.  Analysts have an average price target north of $192.00, and Apple’s 52-week trading range is $89.83 to $202.96.

After the close on Thursday, we get to see earnings out of Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), and this earnings should pretty much seal the fate (well, the trend anyway) for the bulk of PC companies in the coming weeks as we will have heard from the makers of the hardware guts inside the boxes and the software vendor.  First Call has estimates for the software behemoth at $0.44 EPS on $14.49 Billion in revenues.  As far as guidance ahead, the estimates are $0.48 EPS on $15.56 Billion for its fourth quarter (June-2008).  Estimates for the fiscal June-2009 are $2.10 EPS on $66.47 Billion in revenues.  Analysts are still positive on the stock, and the average price target is around $39.00.  Its 52-week trading range is $26.87 to $37.50. Wall Street may care most about how hostile Ballmer will get with Jerry Yang & Co.

As we get to the day of earnings, we’ll give more detailed earnings previews that show more detailed chart action, options analysis, and more.  As a reminder, many of these estimates will be slightly different ahead of the actual results.

Jon C. Ogg
April 20, 2008

Jon Ogg is a producer and editor of the Special Situation newsletter and the "10 Stocks Under $10" weekly newsletter for a673b.bigscoots-temp.com.