Wall Street Beat: No Letup in IT Earnings Mayhem
Anyone daring to hope for better financial news from IT vendors this week has been sorely disappointed, as the financial report season continues with layoff announcements by SAP, IBM, Sprint, AOL, Citrix, Texas Instruments and Eastman Kodak, as well as losses and revenue declines.
Citing a turbulent market, few tech companies offered sales forecasts, and most of those that did revised figures downward.
Though the hardware sector is expected to take the brunt of the global economic downturn for IT, software is not being spared. SAP said Wednesday it will cut about 3,000 workers this year, even though it reported one of the strongest fourth quarters in the tech sector, with net income rising 13 percent to €850 million (US$1.13 billion). Even so, SAP declined to issue earnings guidance for this year.
