How chips, PCs, services companies are faring

Companies providing computers, components, services and related software have begun releasing their earnings reports for the latest quarter. The reports come as consumers shift their spending toward tablets and a weak global economy curbs corporate spending on computers.

Here's a look at how selected companies are faring. The reports generally cover the July-September period, though some companies have fiscal quarters that depart from that.

? Oct. 10: Research firms IDC and Gartner say worldwide shipments of PCs fell sharply in the third quarter, as some consumers spent their electronics dollars on smartphones and tablets and others held off for a new version of Windows. Gartner also estimates that Chinese PC maker Lenovo Group Ltd. outsold Hewlett-Packard Co. for the first time to become the world's largest seller of PCs. IDC still had HP on top.

? Tuesday: Intel Corp., the world's largest chipmaker, says the usual bounce in sales due to the holiday season is likely to be cut in half this year, even though Microsoft is launching a new operating system that it says will get consumers excited about PCs again. In the quarter that just ended, Intel's revenue from PC chips fell 8 percent from a year ago, in line with reports from IDC and Gartner.

IBM Corp. says revenue slipped below Wall Street's expectations, much of it because of the economic deterioration in Europe and other parts of the world, which resulted in weakened international currencies and translated into fewer dollars on sales made abroad. IBM management also raised the specter of slowing demand for the company's technology-consulting services and business-software products as corporate customers become more cautious and debt-laden government agencies deal with budget cuts.

Coming up:

? Thursday: Microsoft Corp., Advanced Micro Devices Inc., SanDisk Corp.

? Oct. 22: Texas Instruments Inc., Western Digital Corp.

? Oct. 23: Xerox Corp.

? Oct. 24: EMC Corp., SAP AG

? Oct. 25: Apple Inc.

? Oct. 26: Samsung Electronics Co

? Oct. 30: Seagate Technology PLC

? Nov. 7: Qualcomm Inc.

? Nov. 20: Hewlett Packard Co., Dell. Inc., Salesforce.com Inc.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chips-pcs-services-companies-faring-001157826.html

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