Palm ’s troubles keep on Thursday as the society posted a profits of $ 15.4 million for the 4th quarter , a 44 percentage cliff from its $ 27.2 million mark one year earlier , despite strong sale of its Treo smartphone .
The fellowship reported revenue of $ 401.3 million for the quarter ending June 1 , down more or less from the $ 403.1 million it earned in the same quarter in 2006 and also below Wall Street ’s forecast of $ 406.6 million , according to analysts poll by Thomson Financial .
The results come in just week after the company faced rumors it would be grow by rivals Motorola or Nokia . Instead , Palm raised $ 325 million of extra money by selling a 25 percent interest of the caller to secret equity investors .
Palm is wobble its merchandise portfolio from personal digital supporter ( personal organiser ) to smartphones , which are far more democratic and offer a potential drop for expectant profit margin because of their higher cost tags . In the past quarter , Palm sop up 86 percentage of its revenue from smartphone sales , a huge baseball swing for a fellowship that in 1996 drew its total revenue from the Palm Pilot PDA . Palm ’s smartphone gross of $ 344.2 million for the fourth part was up 14 percentage from the same one-quarter in 2006 .
“ Our disc Treo sell - through reflects strong fundamentals in the inwardness focal point areas of our business , ” say Palm CEO Ed Colligan . “ I ’m confident that in financial twelvemonth 2008 , more and more stock handset customers will demand the capabilities and comfort of purpose of Palm smartphones , which aligns us well for future growth and profitability . ”
Despite Colligan ’s optimism , Palm ’s smartphone sales did not avail its consequence . Palm earned a profit of $ 0.15 per contribution in the fourth tail , match analysts ’ expectation of $ 0.15 but come in far below the $ 0.25 it made a twelvemonth sooner .
Looking into the time to come , the society call revenue between $ 355 million and $ 365 million for the coming quarter , the first period of Palm ’s fiscal 2008 . If the company encounter the higher end of goal , it would beat its sucker of $ 355.8 million in revenue for the first quarter of 2007 .
However , Palm may be distracted by variety in its council chamber . As a term of buy a large share of the company , the investment mathematical group Elevation Partners importune on instal a new chairman , former Apple frailty president Jon Rubinstein . Palm also raised questions among investors in May when it set in motion the Foleo , a miniature laptop computer intended to trade as a “ smartphone companion . ” That product quickly confront criticism that its $ 599 monetary value was too high and that its 10 - inch screen was too big .
Also on Thursday , Palm reported revenue of $ 1.56 billion for the full fiscal year 2007 , down 1 percentage from the $ 1.58 billion it pull in in 2006 . Palm garner profit of $ 56.4 million for the year , far below its $ 336.2 million profit in 2006 , although the 2006 material body included a one - time tax rebate of $ 219.5 million .
