Analysts expected Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) to earn 26 cents a share for the fiscal first quarter ended December 31, 2006. Starbucks earned? 26 cents a share. Right on the money.

Not only did we see exactly-met earnings, we also saw a same-store sales growth of a comfortable 6% -- nothing like the 4% that had everyone running scared this fall. Other bullet points on the report included net revenues of $2.4 billion, net earnings of $205 million, an increase of 18% over the year-earlier quarter, and "record quarterly Starbucks Card activations of $287 million" up 30%.

Disappointment hidden on page 2: evidently the bottled Frappuccino coffee drinks and DoubleShot espresso drinks, and the Starbucks ice cream, aren't doing so well; although it had a very small impact on the bottom line it's an interesting sideline to track.

Starbucks investors seemed quite happy, though, sending the stock up sharply in afterhours trading. SBUX closed out the trading day at $34.94, up 38 cents or 1.10%, and was falling a bit before the results; then bounced back up to $35.72, up 2.23% from yesterday's close.

Also check out some other earnings reports that we're following, and let us know your thoughts on earnings expectations.

Starbucks Q1 2007 results: right on the money originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 31 Jan 2007 16:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Amazon.com investors are not pleased. Not at all. The internet retailer had major strategy changes this quarter with the embittered breakup with longtime partner Toysrus.com, and that combined with other factors to send net income down 58% from the year-ago quarter. Quarterly net income was $22 million, five cents per diluted share, versus $50 million, or 12 cents per share, in 2005. Sales, however, were good and within Amazon's forecasted range at $2.14 billion, up 22%.

Investors didn't seem to care much that sales showed such a strong growth rate, or that Amazon.com had, indeed, warned of ill effects of the end of the Toysrus.com partnership. After falling 72 cents in intraday trading ahead of the earnings release, shares were down another $3.47, or 12.2% on the day, in after-hours trading a few minutes after the announcement.

Amazon.com's 52-week low is $30, only a few pennies less than where the stock stands in after-hours.

Amazon.com 2nd quarter earnings release: not happy originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 25 Jul 2006 16:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Second quarter earnings exceeded expectations, with $2.455 billion in total revenue for the quarter (up 77% year-over-year) and $2.33 earnings per diluted share. After the bell, investors seemed happy; the stock was recovering from its intraday drop of $11.88, although as the minutes ticked by, the recovery was less and less.

It will be interesting to watch as investors digest the report, and listen to the earnings conference call. I've just started listening, and it's a numbers-rattle-off right now.

4:41 p.m. -- Sergey Brin begins the call, talking about the details of the earnings report. He says that the company noted earlier that capex would be higher, as a percentage, than it was last year, and it continues to be, up to 12% of revenue from 10% last year -- that's a lot of dollars given the huge growth in revenue. Headcount was up over 1,000 people, mostly in Ireland and India.

4:44 p.m. -- Larry Page takes over to talk about the warmer, fuzzier parts of the business. He focuses on Google Checkout, which is hoped to help advertisers generate more sales. He says that Google's option will help advertisers capture those customers who abandon their shopping carts, and generate higher clickthroughs. He says they are "generating healthy adoption rates" including Bluefly, Starbucks, and more.

4:48 p.m. -- Page thinks this is one of the most exciting products the company has generated to date, and "hopes" it will bring revenues. Naturally investors want this: 99% of Google's revenues, healthy as they are, are still coming from search advertising.

Continue reading Liveblogging Google second quarter earnings

Liveblogging Google second quarter earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 20 Jul 2006 16:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ahead of the investor conference call starting in a few minutes, eBay announced second-quarter revenue of $1.411 billion and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share of $0.24. Wall Street will be entirely unsurprised, as this is exactly what analysts predicted.

Will it be enough to turn around today's (and, in fact, this year's) stock malaise? It seems as if investors are relieved; in after hours trading, the stock has recovered the day's losses and more, currently at $27.24 in after hours, up from a close of $25.93. Could this be the end of eBay's slide? Tune into the live coverage of the earnings conference call in a few minutes to learn more.

eBay second quarter earnings: meets expectations on the nose originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 19 Jul 2006 16:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Liveblogging Microsoft fiscal third quarter results: one big penny

Liveblogging Microsoft fiscal third quarter results: one big penny originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 27 Apr 2006 17:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.