RIM'S FY Q1 RESULTS SUBPAR; Q2 OUTLOOK REDUCED; JOB CUTS COMING

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIMM) this afternoon reported fiscal Q1 revenue below analysts’ estimates, but profit a penny ahead, and a Q2 revenue forecast well below estimates, and cut its year outlook.

The company will pursue cost reductions, including laying off workers, and will buy back shares, it said.

Revenue in the three months ended in May rose 16%, year over year, and fell 12%, quarter to quarter, to $4.91 billion, yielding EPS of $1.33.

Analysts had been modeling $5.15 billion in revenue and $1.32 in EPS.

Co-CEO Jim Balsillie remarked, “Fiscal 2012 has gotten off to a challenging start. The slowdown we saw in the first quarter is continuing into Q2, and delays in new product introductions into the very late part of August is leading to a lower than expected outlook in the second quarter.”

He added, “RIM will see strong profit growth in the latter part of fiscal 2012.”

The Q1 results were consistent with RIM’s updated forecast, provided April 28th, of revenue slightly below $5.2 billion, and EPS in a range of $1.30 to $1.37.

However, unit sales of 13.2 million were below even the company’s reduced forecast for 13.5 million to 14.5 million units.

Gross profit of 44% was slightly better than the company expected, it said, based on a better mix of devices sold.

One bright spot: RIM shipped 500,000 units of its PlayBook tablet computer in the quarter, it said. That estimate was higher than general expectations on the Street for 400,000 or so units. (Barron's)

INVESTMENT COMPANY CUTS MOTOROLA FORECAST, CITES POOR XOOM SALES

RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Sue on Friday cut his price target for Motorola Mobility stock to $33 from his previous target of $38. Sue also lowered his first and second-quarter sales and revenue forecasts, citing increased competition and slow sales of Motorola’s XOOM tablet. Motorola anticipated a rough first quarter when it reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2010 earnings in January, but Sue now believes earlier estimates were still high.

He notes increased competition from devices like the HTC ThunderBolt at key carrier partner Verizon Wireless in revising his first-quarter device sales estimate down to 9.2 million units from 9.9 million. Sue also shaved $100 million from his first-quarter revenue forecast, which now sits at $3 billion. In the second quarter, Sue now sees Motorola selling 10.5 million devices, which includes only 300,000 Motorola XOOM tablets — down from his earlier estimate of 400,000 XOOMs and 10.9 million total devices. Motorola anticipates a net loss of between $26 and $62 million in the first quarter of 2011.

OFFICE 2011 FOR MAC ARRIVES

Microsoft announced this morning that Office 2011 for Mac is now available.  The software suite features a number of enhancements including the return of Visual Basic scripting.

In addition to Word, Excel and Powerpoint, which are pretty much the standards for company word processing, spreadsheets and presentations, the suite also includes a new version of Outlook.  Outlook is a combination email, calendar and contact management application.  This new version of Outlook for Mac can now connect to Microsoft Exchange enterprise email servers, allowing corporate Mac users the same abilities as Windows users and help cut down on the number of email software supported by IT departments.

Additionally, Office 2011 supports Microsoft's online collaboration tools such as Windows Live SkyDrive, Microsoft SharePoint, and Microsoft Office Web Apps. Office 2011 users and Office 2010 users on Windows can simultaneously edit documents from any location with an Internet connection. The return of VBA scripting means complex documents with special forms, macros, and other features from Windows colleagues will be completely accessible. And, new photo editing and layout tools also make it easier to create visually rich documents without having to rely on other apps.

General manager for the Office for Mac team, Eric Wilfrid, noted that about three-quarters of all Mac users install and use Office. "Some people choose Windows, and some people choose Mac. That conflict tends to get a lot of attention, but I deal in the reality that there are customers who love their Macs and also love using Office," he said. "The vast majority of Mac customers [are] counting on Microsoft for a critical piece of their computing needs."

Office 2011 for Mac comes in three editions: Home & Student, Home & Business, and Academic. The Home & Student edition includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and includes license keys for up to three computers. Home & Business also includes the new Mac version of Outlook. The Academic version includes all four suite applications for a discounted price with a limited academic license.

Office 2011 for Mac is available to purchase today from Apple, Amazon, Best Buy, MacMall, or directly from Microsoft. Home & Business has a suggested retail price of $149.99, Home & Business is $279.95, and the Academic bundle is $99.95 (though some schools have arranged for special pricing from Microsoft). [Geek]