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A range of tech vendors including Cisco Systems, Silicon GraphicsInternational, BMC Software and CA Technologies this week reportedquarterly earnings that had some solid numbers, but a cautiousoutlook for the rest of the year is spooking market watchers. Shares of computer companies are still up for the year, and tradingin IT companies ticked up Friday morning. As of Thursday's marketclose, computer companies on the Nasdaq were up 15 percent for theyear. On Friday, Nasdaq computer companies were up by .79 percentin the morning session. However, in recent weeks, those same stocks had been up by 22percent for the year. Despite some solid sales reports during thepast earnings season, it's clear that market watchers are stillnervous about the future, with investors bailing on companies thatgive out any signs of weakness for the quarters ahead. Cisco's broad portfolio of enterprise products and global scopemakes it one of the big tech bellwethers. Though the company turnedin solid sales and earnings growth, CEO John Chambers noted thatcustomers are taking a wait-and-see approach to the economy. "The enterprise is one that had changed in terms of consumer ITconfidence, in terms of customer IT confidence on spending versusthe last quarter, and that's got a little bit tougher," Chamberssaid on Cisco's earnings conference call Wednesday. "I think rightnow I'd classify it as uncertainty and looking to see morecertainty on the global economy and in Europe, and secondly, morecertainty in terms of government policies that can have majorimpacts on their business." While Chambers was careful to reiterate several times on the callthat he believed Cisco is well positioned to take advantage ofenterprises' move to cloud computing, he kept coming back to thetheme of overall uncertainty about the economy and how that mightaffect tech spending trends. "We sure don't like the trend in the enterprise IT spending,"Chambers said. Cisco said that for the quarter ending April 28 net sales were US$11.6 billion, up 6.6 percent from theyear-earlier period. Net income was $2.2 billion, up from $1.81billion. The results edged out expectations of analysts. However, Cisco's cautious outlook disappointed investors. Companyofficials forecast revenue of about $11.4 billion to almost $11.8billion, lagging behind analyst estimates of $11.99 billion. Ciscoshares declined to close Thursday at $16.81, down by $1.95, thoughthey edged upward toward the end of the week. Though much smaller than Cisco, the story for SGI was similar.Shares of the company fell by about 25 percent Thursday, after thehardware and services provider's Wednesday announcement that itwould cut its sales and profit forecasts. Though the companyreported solid sales growth for the quarter, it said some customersare delaying purchases, partly because they are waiting for thelaunch of new products. SGI also said profit margins are beingsqueezed as lower-cost hardware platforms sell faster than thehigher-margin machines. SGI reported revenue of $199.4 million, up 39 percent from thethird quarter of 2011. The results were better than expected, andSGI said it's industry-strength hardware platforms are well suitedfor the big data needs of its customers. But the company's outlook feel short of expectations. The companysaid it expects to generate $750 million to $770 million in revenuefor the fiscal year. Analysts on average were expecting $772.9million for fiscal 2012. On the software side, the story continued for CA: some goodquarterly numbers, but a soft outlook. CA, spurred on by stronggrowth in North America as demand grows for cloud-based computingand virtualization products, on Thursday reported a 5 percentyear-on-year increase in revenue to $1.19 billion, in line withanalysts' expectations. Net income jumped to $211 million from $188 million. Excludingone-time charges, CA 's EPS (earnings per share) was $0.56, edgingout analyst estimates of $0.52. The company forecast fiscal 2013revenue of $4.85 billion to $4.95 billion, but analysts expectedcompany sales to be $5.01 billion. Shares slumped by $0.26, tradingat $26.02 in early Friday trading. BMC Software, reporting Wednesday, said quarterly sales were $564.7million, up slightly from the year-earlier figure of $562.2million. The company beat analyst forecasts for $561.4 million.Profit declined to $71 million from $123 million a year earlier.EPS excluding one-time items was $0.74, below analyst forecasts of$0.80 per share. However, BMC had a more upbeat outlook than other major playersthis week and was rewarded with a boost to its share price. BMC said for the full fiscal year 2013, revenue growth would be inthe mid- to high-single digits, with EPS of $3.49 to $3.59. Thehigher end of the estimate exceed analyst forecasts of $3.51. BMCshares closed at $40.28 Thursday, up by $0.57, and ticked up againFriday morning. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Pallet Jack Manufacturer , China Scaffold Props for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Systems Scaffolding.
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