After Adobe
Tech News No. 1: Red Hat follows up on Adobe and Oracle's success
Investors weren't pleased with Adobe's and Oracle's earnings last night because neither company walloped estimates. Oracle's sales guidance looked light, and while Adobe surpassed expectations, sales are set to be only a few percent above watered-down expectations.
Instead, the rise in both stocks was more a sigh of relief. Economic uncertainty at the tail end of July led almost every tech company reporting earnings last month to warn of a slowing spending environment ahead. The repeated warnings furthered the tech sell-off. Investors don't like uncertainty and came to expect the worst. What Adobe and Oracle showed last night is that IT spending looks to have stabilized throughout August.
After the bell today, Red Hat
There are still plenty of tech earnings on the horizon, but tech bellwethers reporting August results are certainly pointing toward a rebound off the dreary days of late July.
Tech News No. 2: Is Microsoft the Rodney Dangerfield of tech?
Last night, Microsoft
Wrong. Microsoft traded below the Nasdaq all day, closing down 3.67%. What gives? It appears investors got a bit greedy in their expectations. Microsoft generated $2.69 in diluted earnings per share in the past year, so even $0.20 per quarter isn't a huge yield. Investors might have hoped for something like a $0.25-per-quarter dividend, which would still leave Microsoft below a 40% payout ratio but turn it into a high-yielding dividend monster.
However, Microsoft still has plenty of cash held overseas -- and it's set for taxation if brought stateside for dividends -- and it might be eyeing more acquisitions that could require some dry powder. While investors might increasingly want Microsoft to embrace the role of a middle-aged dividend dynamo, that change will continue acting like a slow evolution.
Tech News No. 3: Are you ready for the iPhone 5?
All Things Digital is reporting that Apple
Apple has a pretty set way of handling major product launches. The company holds an event that drums up plenty of media attention and showcases all of the product's new capabilities and then announces that it'll be available in a short timeframe.
While speculation is rampant just what the iPhone 5 will improve upon, the important point is that Apple's moving ahead with a new phone before the holiday season. Earlier reports had pegged the iPhone launch as maybe being delayed all the way until January. The iPhone 4 continues to be a hot seller despite being on the market for over a year, but even with its continuing success, you don't want to be leaving out hardware for too long in a rapidly evolving mobile market.
Tech News No. 4: Bon Voyage, Leo?
After less than a year on the job, Bloomberg is reporting that Hewlett-Packard's
- Read more about Apotheker and his potential to get the boot.
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