Dell’s (DELL) fiscal third-quarter earnings fell 54 percent to $337 million, while revenue declined 15 percent to $12.9 billion.

The personal-computer maker saw revenue in its small and medium business unit slip 19 percent from the year-earlier period, while its consumer business was down 10 percent. In a statement, Michael Dell, its chief executive, said that the launch of Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows 7 has been “very well received” by consumers and businesses, and that the company will see those results more in the fourth quarter.

Dell also highlighted its performance in China, where sales grew 8 percent. Combined sales in China, India, Brazil and Russia rose 5 percent.

The company is likely to discuss its recent acquisition of Perot Systems, though investors may also want to hear more about its smart-phone plans and how it’s competing with Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), which reported a revenue drop as well as a purchase of its own last week.

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Applied Materials (AMAT) yesterday afternoon posted stellar results for the fiscal fourth quarter ended October 25; revenue of $1.53 billion was well ahead of the Street at $1.32 billion, and non-GAAP EPS of 13 cents a share crushed the consensus number at three cents. Likewise, the company said FY Q1 revenue would be up 10-25 percent sequentially, which implies $1.68 billion to $1.91 billion, smartly above the Street consensus at $1.4 billion.

As I noted yesterday, CEO Michael Splinter said on the call that he expects the chip industry to spend $18 to $20 billion on capital equipment in 2010, up from $12 million to $13 million this year; at the mid-point, that would be an increase of 52 percent, which while off a nightmarish bottom, is still nice growth.

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Live Nation (LYV) today said it expects the acquisition of the company by Ticketmaster (TKTM) to close in the first quarter of next year. Meanwhile, both companies today posted solid results for the third quarter.

Live Nation posted Q3 revenue of $1.81 billion, up from $1.59 billion a year ago, and ahead of the Street consensus at $1.62 billion. The company said the 14 percent increase in revenue was driven by a 12 percent increase in event attendance. Adjusted operating income of 160.8 million was up sharply from $109.5 million; free cash flow of $123.2 million was nearly double the $64.4 million reported for the year-ago quarter.

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The rush by Asian liquid-crystal-display makers to ramp up production at home and to invest in new plants threatens to curtail the nascent recovery in the flat-panel market.

LCD makers in Asia have just started to see their earnings recover in the second quarter after prices began to rise thanks to production cuts made last year, component shortages and strong demand from China. But another supply glut could be looming as soon as the current quarter as companies such as Sharp Corp., Samsung Electronics Co., LG Display Co. and AU Optronics Corp. ramp up production from new lines.

“With the glass shortage diminishing in Taiwan, and [eighth-generation plants] ramping up in Korea, supply is growing faster than demand,” said Paul Semenza, senior vice president at U.S. market research firm DisplaySearch.

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In a lengthy filing with the SEC, Omniture (OMTR) provides a detailed time-line of the events that culminated in its agreement to be acquired by Adobe Systems (ADBE) for $21.50 a share. There are several fascinating aspects to the company’s account.

For starters, the deal came together in a hurry. On July 20, Adobe told Omniture it was interested in pursuing a transaction, and that it wanted to announce the deal on September 15, the day it was scheduled to report earnings. And that is actually how it played out.

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Tuesday was not a good day for professional analysts as a class–and Merrill Lynch’s in particular. Not only were most caught off guard by the strength of Apple’s (AAPL) record third-quarter results but the men and women who track the company for banks and brokerage houses were bested once again by a bunch of bloggers, day traders and amateurs analysts.

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As expected, the huge Q2 earnings and revenue surprise by Intel (INTC) last night has triggered a huge tech rally.

The question, though, is whether this is whether the trend will continue – and in particular, whether the U.S. consumer will be buying PCs in the upcoming back-to-school period.

The analysts who track Intel appear split on the company’s prospects. On the one hand, the company dramatically beat their Q2 numbers, and provided Q3 guidance that likewise were way ahead of the Street.

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Sun (JAVA) Microsystems will issue its quarterly financial results on Tuesday afternoon, right on schedule, despite the looming takeover by Oracle (ORCL). But Sun won’t hold a conference call; the company says it plans to simply post a press release and associated financial slides on its Web site.

That’s not surprising, given the circumstances. It’s certainly a change, though, for one of the chattiest companies in Silicon Valley. And it raises questions about what could happen, communications-wise, because of the deal.

Sun’s leaders have not said anything to speak of since the transaction was announced last Monday.

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IBM (IBM) posted first-quarter earnings of $2.3 billion, down 1 percent from its profit a year earlier, while revenue fell 11 percent to $21.71 billion.

Highlights from the company’s conference call with analysts:

4:33: CFO Mark Loughridge will be flying solo on the call today.

4:35: He starts off with some examples of how IBM has been transforming itself, including globalization and shifting to “higher-value areas.”

4:36: IBM’s profit model now has less dependence on hardware, which is more subject to economic swings, he says. “This quarter effectively all of our pretax profit came from software, services and financing.”

4:38: Revenue down, but “we had outstanding margin performance.”

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With Apple (AAPL) due to report earnings after the close Wednesday for its fiscal second quarter ended March 30, the Street is in full-scale jockeying-for-position mode. The general sense is that the company will beat its guidance easily, while likely issuing a conservative forecast for the June quarter. Here’s a rundown on some of this morning’s moves by the Street:

Gabelli & Co. analyst Robert Haley cut his rating on the stock to Hold from Buy on a valuation basis, noting that the stock is up 40 percent year to date. He is bullish on the story long term, but says that with the stock trading at 20x projected 2010 estimates and 10x EBITDA, there are risks, including “a likely CEO transition in the near-medium term.”

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Come Wednesday, it will be Apple’s turn to discuss its results for the first three months of 2009. But among the crowd of Apple (AAPL) watchers, the discussion has been simmering for months, with the tone shifting from pessimism about recession-whacked sales to cautious optimism–especially as the stock has rebounded 58 percent and skeptical analysts have revised previously bearish outlooks.

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Analysts covering the Internet sector continue to jockey for position ahead of Google’s (GOOG) Q1 earnings report, which is due after the close on Thursday.

As I noted in a post yesterday, there is no clear agreement on what the numbers will look like; after a recent round of estimate cuts, the Street now seems to be wondering if maybe it went too far. I would note that GOOG shares have rebounded 44 percent off the November lows, so there is some risk that even a strong quarter will trigger a round of profit-taking, not unlike what happened in Intel (INTC) shares today. (Although I would also note that, unlike Intel, Google doesn’t ever provide any forward earnings guidance.)

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Intel (INTC) reported stronger-than-expected earnings and said that it believed the slumping computer sales market had “bottomed out.” Wall Street’s response: Sell ‘em.

The chip giant’s shares are off four percent, dragging on the Nasdaq Composite and raising some questions about the tech sector generally. This bout of pessimism is probably a bit overdone and reflects more what’s happened in the past few months than what happened yesterday.

Tech shares have been on a strong run, with the S&P 500 information technology group up 15 percent in the last month alone. That’s a pretty quick sprint, and Intel’s merely decent news wasn’t enough to sustain it.

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There’s kind of a pattern to today’s very large batch of earnings from the semiconductor and semi equipment companies. The Q4 numbers in most cases were well telegraphed; many companies in the sector had already pre-announced rotten results. Many have cut heads, are cutting heads, or will cut heads. And the guidance for the March quarter is generally for double-digit sequential revenue declines.

At some point soon, the Street is going to start looking further out, to June quarter results. And right now, there is not a whole lot to go on. Barring a sudden pick-up in the economy–and I’m not sure why you’d be expecting to see that–you could see another round of estimate cuts as we move through the first quarter.

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Now that we’re experiencing Q4 earnings reports in all their glory, the time has come to shift focus to Q1. That’s what Needham chip analyst N. Quinn Bolton did this morning. And the picture is not pretty.

Bolton says he now expects Q1 revenues for most of the companies he covers to be down 15-20 percent sequentially, with Q2 sequentially flat. (His previous theory was that Q1 would be down about 10 percent.) He says that currently depressed orders have been depressed by supply chain-wide inventory reductions, but that “visibility into a snapback in orders remains uncertain.” His current theory: Slash estimates to the bone, and hope the companies can start to beat them in the second half.

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