All Things Digital

The steady crumbling of the value of the U.S. dollar over the last two years has given a big boost to reported earnings at many U.S. companies that sell goods overseas in local currencies but report in dollars. That group includes a host of large tech companies, among them, hardware makers like Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), IBM (IBM) and Sun Microsystems (JAVA).

But over the last several weeks, the dollar has reversed course, and strengthened against the Euro and the yen. And that poses some noteworthy issues for tech industry earnings in the next few quarters.

Read the rest of this post

It’s another rough morning for Sun Microsystems (JAVA) shares.

This morning, Sun posted results for its fiscal fourth quarter ended June that were consistent with the guidance provided in mid-July. Revenues were $3.78 billion, gross margin was 44.3 percent, and non-GAAP profits were 35 cents a share; the company has forecast $3.725 to $3.8 billion in revenue, with gross margin in the 44-45 percent range, and non-GAAP EPS of 25 to 35 cents. Revenue in the quarter was down 1.4 percent from a year earlier; full year revenue of $13.88 billion was up 0.1 percent from fiscal 2007.

Read the rest of this post

The big after hours rally in Sun Microsystems (JAVA) shares, which took the stock up more than 10 percent, has now largely faded, with Street analysts nearly unanimous in their doubts about the near-term prospects for the company.

After the close yesterday, Sun announced that revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter ended June was $3.725 billion to $3.8 billion, with gross margin in the 44-45 percent range. Sun expects non-GAAP profits of 25-35 cents a share. The Street had been looking for $3.8 billion and 27 cents. While the pre-announcement was more or less in line with the consensus, the knee-jerk reaction from investors was to bid up the share in relief that the quarter wasn’t considerably worse. On second look, however, they seem less sure that the quarter was so impressive.

Read the rest of this post

Fascinating. Sun Microsystems (JAVA), which has been under intense selling pressure in recent sessions, this afternoon announced preliminary results for its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended in June, that were obviously better than the Street had feared, sending the stock sharply higher.

Sun said fourth quarter revenue will be $3.725 billion to $3.8 billion, with gross margin in the 44 to 45 percent range. Sun expects non-GAAP profits of 25 to 35 cents a share. The Street had been looking for $3.8 billion and 27 cents.

Read the rest of this post

Sun Microsystems (JAVA) shares this morning are down sharply to their lowest level since 1995, following a bearish note on the company from Caris & Co.’s Shebly Seyrafi, who cut his price target on the stock to $10.50 from $14.50 “to reflect lower margins following checks indicating that JAVA was aggressively pricing its products in [the fiscal fourth quarter] and to reflect the company’s challenging outlook.”

Sun reports results for its fourth quarter ended June on August 1. The company previously guided to flat revenue with an increase in margins. Seyrafi today actually raised his revenue estimate slightly to $3.85 billion from $3.82 billion, which is a bit above the consensus of $3/8 billion, but trimmed his EPS estimate to 31 cents from 35 cents (which is still above the Street consensus of 27 cents) to reflect lower margins.

Read the rest of this post

Large tech companies turn their annual conferences into lavish affairs featuring high-quality gifts for attendees and concerts by big-name rock stars. But lately an unplanned giveaway has stolen some headlines: the flu.

The San Francisco Department of Public Heath this week warned of an outbreak of the Norovirus at the Moscone Center, where Sun Microsystems is currently hosting the JavaOne conference. The Norovirus is a highly contagious flu-like virus that causes nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and some stomach cramping. A spokesman for the city tells the Business Technology Blog that the warning came after the public-health department received several complaints from attendees at Sun’s conference.

Read the rest of this post

Sun Microsystems is getting ready to talk about its cloud computing efforts, including some kind of a deal with Amazon for its Amazon Web Services, according to CEO Jonathan Schwartz, who delivered a short keynote at Startup Camp in San Francisco. Startup Camp is an adjunct event to the JavaOne Conference that kicks off later this week.

Following his keynote, I got onstage with Schwartz and asked him a few questions. I queried him about Sun and its cloud computing efforts, given that it was nearly a decade ago that then-Sun CEO Scott McNealy started talking about how “the network is the computer.” In response, Schwartz said they have some interesting news coming out later this week. He refused to give the details, but he seemed pretty excited.

Read the rest of this post

Companies used to give away pens, squishy balls and coffee cups to worm their ways into the hearts of customers. Now, they pass out database software. That is, in a sense, Sun Microsystems’ strategy with its $1 billion purchase of MySQL, said Sun CFO Mike Lehman at Sun’s Global Media Summit here today. Very few customers have or will pay for MySQL, he admitted. However, they are installing it in large and growing numbers, and that gives Sun an opportunity to visit them and try to sell them servers and storage systems.

Read the rest of this post