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)

HTC REPORTS RECORD SALES AND PROFIT

Another quarter, another spectacular set of financial results for HTC. The once-small Taiwanese phone maker reports its net income for the first quarter of 2011 nearly tripled earnings in the same period of 2010, now totaling an impressive $513 million. Overall quarterly revenue was in the vicinity of $3.6 billion and the causes cited were, rather predictably, demand for Android smartphones and higher-speed internet connectivity (as provided by the likes of the EVO 4G and Thunderbolt).

APPLE POSTS RECORD $26.74 BILLION IN REVENUE

As expected Apple released its fiscal first quarter results and the news was very good. The financial results cover the fiscal first quarter of 2011 which ended on December 25th last year. Revenue was at an all time high with Apple’s highly popular devices and associated App Stores making up the bulk of the $26.74 billion generated. Net quarterly profit was $6 billion.

Compared to the same quarter last year it’s a massive gain. Revenue has increased over $11 billion ($15.68 billion in the year-ago quarter), and profit has increased by $2.62 billion ($3.38 billion in the year-ago quarter).

Steve Jobs is always looking to the future, and simply commented:

We had a phenomenal holiday quarter with record Mac, iPhone and iPad sales. We are firing on all cylinders and we’ve got some exciting things in the pipeline for this year including iPhone 4 on Verizon which customers can’t wait to get their hands on.

Here’s a breakdown of the devices Apple sold during the quarter (percentage gains are on the year-ago quarter):

• Mac: 4.13 million (23% increase)
• iPhone: 16.24 million (86% increase)
• iPod: 19.45 million (7% decline)
• iPad: 7.33 million

We also can’t forget the 30% cut Apple takes on every app sale in the App Store, as well as the profit generated from sales of content on iTunes away from apps. With the Mac App Store recently coming online that area of revenue stream will only grow in the future.