Microsoft Corp. has posted an 18 percent decline in quarterly profits, results that are not desirable on their own but actually hint at the possibilit of a larger recovery in the ailing technology sector of the economy. While business spending for Microsoft products was weak in the last quarter, Microsoft saw increased demand for personal computers and videogames.
Microsoft’s results have provided optimism to the rest of the technology sector that consumer demand may be on its way to making a full recovery, especially after the impact that the economic recession has had. Investors also took Microsoft’s results as a sign …read more

Memory device maker SanDisk Corp. has a posted a surprisingly strong third-quarter profit after experiencing a period of unexpectedly high sales and income from previously written-down inventories. While the market for memory products went through rough times at the height of the economic downturn, companies like SanDisk have been enjoying an upturn in demand for their products.
SanDisk’s results prompted an 11 percent rise in the company’s shares, sending the value up to $23.81 in after-hours trading following reassuring statements issued by the company concerning their prospects for the fourth quarter and beyond. SanDisk has also experienced a massive recovery since …read more

Advanced Micro Devices Inc., which specializes in the sale of notebook processors, managed to avoid posting a loss as large as most analysts expected after an unexpectedly strong rally in sales toward the end of the quarter. While AMD’s results helped the struggling company to turn its core chipmaking business profitable, the results were not received well by investors and AMD’s shares dropped.
AMD has posted twelve consecutive quarters of losses, the latest of which resulted in a 5 percent slide in the value of its shares. This follows a 60 percent rally over the past three months as investors began …read more

Taiwan-based Acer Inc has become the second-largest PC maker in the world, replacing Dell Inc in the third quarter and sending the former runner-up to third place. The development comes after a surprisingly strong quarter for Acer, which posted unexpectedly high sales figures that may signal that demand is starting to recover in the computer industry.
Acer’s global personal computer shipments increased by 2.3 percent in the third quarter to a total of 78.1 million units as the technology sector continues to recover from the recession’s impact on consumer demand. Every sales region except for Japan posted results that either met …read more

Networking giant Cisco Systems has already completed two major acquisition deals in just the last week, but according to recent statements released by the company, Cisco will continue to search for more large acquisitions. Cisco Chief Strategy Officer Ned Hooper has stated that his company is prepared to use both cash and stock to continue down the path of acquisitions.
Hooper also said that the company’s acquisition of Starent Networks shows that Cisco is committed to remaining the leader in networking technology and that this committment comes into play regarding Cisco’s drive to pursue further acquisitions. Cisco acquired Starent for around …read more