Sony Chief Financial Officer Masaru Kato announced to the press on Monday that the company expects to post an annual loss of $3.2 billion for its fiscal year ending in March 2011 — the second largest loss in company history. The news comes as yet another blow for the Japanese consumer electronics giant, whose online networks have been the target of a series of cyberattacks that impacted more than 100 million customers. Sony had previously expected to post a profit this year, however the company had to write off $4.4 billion for a tax credit from a previous quarter. A series of earthquakes that rocked Japan earlier this year had a negative impact on the company as well, slowing production and destroying factories. The affect of the quakes carried over to the company’s first quarter, Kato told the press, but Sony is still optimistic about 2011/2012. For the fiscal year ending in March 2012, Sony expects to post an operating profit of 200 billion yen, or $2.45 billion at today’s exchange rate.

Read

On Monday, Nintendo released a statement confirming that it will reveal the successor to the original Wii during the E3 Expo tradeshow in Los Angeles — which takes place June 7-9, 2011. The new console, currently codenamed “Project Cafe,” may feature a new “Screen Stream” controller option that will provide each individual gamer with their own touchscreen display, although Nintendo did not disclose any of the console’s new features in its statement. The Japanese gaming firm also announced its earnings for the fiscal year ending March, 2011. Net sales of ¥1,014 billion ($12.35 billion) were down 29.3% year-over-year and Nintendo’s net income fell 66.1% to ¥77.62 million ($946,110). Hardware and software sales for the United States, Nintendo’s largest market, also fell year-over-year. Nintendo sold 15.08 million Nintendo Wii units, 3.61 million of its new Nintendo 3DS devices, and 17.52 million of its Nintendo DS portable gaming consoles in the States. By contrast, the firm sold 20.5 million Wii units in the U.S. last year. Globally, the firm sold 171.26 million Wii units, 120.98 million DS devices, and 9.43 million Nintendo 3DS units. Hit the jump for Nintendo’s earnings release, as well as its official statement on E3.

April 25, 2011

To whom it may concern:

Re: Wii’s Successor System

Nintendo Co., Ltd. has decided to launch in 2012 a system to succeed Wii, which the company has sold 86.01 million units on a consolidated shipment basis between its launch in 2006 and the end of March 2011.

We will show a playable model of the new system and announce more specifications at the E3 Expo, which will be held June 7-9, 2011, in Los Angeles.

Sales of this new system have not been included in the financial forecasts announced today for the fiscal term ending March 2012.

Read (PDF)

The proverbial — and literal — stock of Apple, Inc. is sky high at the moment, which could be clouding the better judgement of some analysts. And this next prediction may fall into that category: 45 million iPads to be sold in 2011. The prognostication comes courtesy of intel acquired by Ticonderoga Securities from various component suppliers in China and Taiwan. ”During our visit to Asia last fall, we indicated that our checks were pointing to expectations for up to 45 million iPad unit sales by Apple,” writes Brian White, an analyst with Ticonderoga. “At the time, this number was difficult for many investors and some in the media to get their heads around. However, this week’s meetings are again pointing to expectations for iPad unit sales of 40 million to 45 million units in CY11, well above our estimate of 30.9 million.” Digital Daily‘s John Paczkowski writes that the estimates do seem “a tad optimistic,” and notes that we should have a better gauge on 2011 iPad sales next week when the company reports its second-quarter earnings.

Read

In a note to investors on Friday, RBC Capital Markets Managing Director Mike Abramsky attempts to put Research In Motion’s fourth-quarter earnings and first-quarter guidance in perspective. RIM reported its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings after the bell on Thursday and shares of RIM stock subsequently plummeted by as much as 12% in after hours trading. Most of the concern seemed to surround RIM’s guidance for the first-quarter of its 2012 fiscal year. Abramsky points out that while investors may be concerned by RIM’s guidance, it likely reflects product transitions rather than intensifying competition. He notes that new product launches and future support for Android applications will help restore confidence in RIM moving forward. While RBC does identify several possible barrier such as a general decline in technology valuations, unknown market acceptance of new products and declining average selling prices of BlackBerry smartphones, the firm reiterates its $90 price target for RIM stock.

Microsoft on Thursday announced its earnings for the second quarter of the company’s 2011 fiscal year. In the quarter, which ended on December 31st, 2010, Microsoft saw record revenue of $19.95 billion, up from $19 billion in the same quarter last year. Operating income slid slightly, however, from $8.51 billion in the second quarter of Microsoft’s 2010 fiscal year to $8.17 billion last quarter. Diluted earnings per share were up to $0.77 compared to $0.74 in the same quarter a year prior. “We are enthusiastic about the consumer response to our holiday lineup of products, including the launch of Kinect,” said Microsoft CFO Peter Klein in a statement. “The 8 million units of Kinect sensors sold in just 60 days far exceeded our expectations. The pace of business spending, combined with strong consumer demand, led to another quarter of operating margin expansion and solid earnings per share growth.” Microsoft also noted that its Business Division grew 24% year-over-year, and Office 2010 is the fastest-selling version of Microsoft Office in company history. Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division grew 55% year-over-year on solid Xbox 360 console and accessory sales. Hit the break for Microsoft’s full press release.

Microsoft Reports Record $0.77 Earnings Per Share in Second Quarter

Holiday sales and business demand drive record revenue.

Redmond, Wash. – Jan. 27, 2011 – Microsoft Corp. today announced record second-quarter revenue of $19.95 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2010. Operating income, net income and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $8.17 billion, $6.63 billion and $0.77 per share, respectively.

Prior year results reflect the recognition of $1.71 billion of deferred revenue relating to the Windows 7 Upgrade Option program and sales of Windows 7 before general availability in October 2009. Second-quarter growth rates for revenue and earnings per share were 5% and 4% respectively. Without the deferred recognition in the prior year, second-quarter growth rates for revenue and earnings per share were 15% and 28%, respectively.

(In millions, except per share amounts)	Three months ended December 31,
	2010 As Reported (GAAP)	2009 As Reported (GAAP)	Deferred Revenue Recognition	2009 As Adjusted (Non-GAAP)	Percentage Change (GAAP)	Percentage Change (Non-GAAP)
Revenue	$19,953	$19,022	$1,711	$17,311	5%	15%
Operating Income	$8,165	$8,513	$1,711	$6,802	-4%	20%
Diluted Earnings Per Share	$ 0.77	$ 0.74	$0.14	$ 0.60	4%	28%

“We are enthusiastic about the consumer response to our holiday lineup of products, including the launch of Kinect. The 8 million units of Kinect sensors sold in just 60 days far exceeded our expectations,” said Peter Klein, chief financial officer at Microsoft. “The pace of business spending, combined with strong consumer demand, led to another quarter of operating margin expansion and solid earnings per share growth.”

Among the factors driving Microsoft’s record revenues and earnings per share was the 55% growth in revenue for the Entertainment & Devices Division, as the success of the Kinect sensor boosted sales of Xbox 360 consoles, Xbox Live subscriptions and Xbox games.

Microsoft Business Division revenue grew 24% year-over-year. Office 2010 is the fastest-selling consumer version of Office in history, with license sales over 50% ahead of Office 2007 over an equivalent period following launch.

“Business demand for our productivity and infrastructure products and cloud solutions is strong. Office had a huge quarter, exceeding everyone’s expectations, and our roadmap for cloud productivity with Office 365 makes products like SharePoint, Exchange, Lync and Dynamics CRM even more attractive to our customers,” said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft. “Windows 7 continues to be the fastest-growing operating system in history, and our recent System on a Chip announcement demonstrates our commitment that Windows will have the power and flexibility to run everywhere and on every device.”

Among the other product and business highlights Microsoft reported in the quarter:

• Microsoft announced it has now sold over 300 million Windows 7 licenses, and Windows 7 is now running on over 20% of Internet-connected PCs.
• Windows Phone 7 launched during the quarter in 30 countries and on 60 operators and nine different devices. Microsoft announced developers are adding Windows Phone 7 applications to the marketplace at a rate of over 100 per day.
• Bing completed the integration of Yahoo! search in the U.S. and Canada and continues to gain share.
• Windows Azure developer momentum continued this quarter, with Pixar Animation Studios, ADP with NVoicePay and others demonstrating compelling uses of the platform.
• Internet Explorer 9 is Microsoft’s fastest downloaded beta browser of all time with over 20 million downloads to date.
• At International CES 2011 in early January, Microsoft announced that the next version of Windows will support System on a Chip architectures.
• The company announced that during the quarter, it bought back $5 billion in stock and declared $1.3 billion in dividends.

Business Outlook

Microsoft reaffirms operating expense guidance of $26.9 billion to $27.3 billion for the full year ending June 30, 2011.

Webcast Details

Peter Klein, chief financial officer, Frank Brod, chief accounting officer, and Bill Koefoed, general manager of Investor Relations, will host a conference call and webcast at 2:30 p.m. PST (5:30 p.m. EST) today to discuss details of the company’s performance for the quarter and certain forward-looking information. The session may be accessed at http://www.microsoft.com/investor. The webcast will be available for replay through the close of business on Jan. 27, 2012.

Adjusted Financial Results and Non-GAAP Measures

In addition to financial results reported in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), we have provided certain non-GAAP financial information to aid investors in better understanding the company’s performance. For revenue, operating income and earnings per share growth we excluded the impact of deferred revenue recognized in the prior year fiscal quarter relating to the Windows 7 Upgrade Option program and sales of Windows 7 before general availability in October 2009. Presenting these measures without the impact of this item gives additional insight into operational performance and helps clarify trends affecting the company’s business. For comparability of reporting, management considers this information in conjunction with GAAP amounts in evaluating business performance. These non-GAAP financial measures provided should not be considered as a substitute for, or superior to, the measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP.

To aid comparability of prior results, we have also recast certain prior period amounts within our Form 10-Q that conforms to the way we internally managed and monitored segment performance during the current fiscal year. In addition to the reconciliation in this release, our supplementary earnings slide deck at http://www.microsoft.com/investor contains a reconciliation of adjusted financial results and a reconciliation between reported and recast segment results.

‘Tis the season and with the financial world standing at attention, Apple has just made its Q2 results for the fiscal year 2009 public. Despite a few who speculated that Wall Streets projections could be a bit of a reach in some areas, Apple managed to surpass projections just about everywhere. Starting with revenue, Apple pulled down $8.16 billion representing a solid 6 percent growth year over year. Profits were up YoY as well, from $1.05 billion in Q2 FY08 to $1.21 billion in Q2 FY09. As far as shipments are concerned:

• Mac computers: 2.2 million units, 3 percent decline YoY
• iPods: 11.01 million units, 3 percent growth YoY
• iPhones: 3.79 million units, 123 percent growth YoY

While Mac sales are the obvious low point for Apple, shipments still managed to beat the Street’s consensus by about 100k. The high point of course is the iPhone which, as we all know, is a revenue making machine. iPod sales were also a highlight of course, with Apple beating the Street by a cool million units shipped.

Read