SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Palm Inc posted a smaller-than-expected loss on sales of its new Pre smartphone but offered a tepid second-quarter sales forecast, and its shares fell.
The maker of the Pre smartphone, whose stock quadrupled this year as investors bet on the popularity of the mobile device, forecast second-quarter revenue of $240 million to $270 million, compared with an average forecast for non-GAAP revenue of just over $345 million.
Separately, Palm said it plans to sell 16 million shares of common stock. Elevation Partners, which already owns a sizable stake in Palm, expects to buy $35 million worth of stock in the offering.
Palm has staked its future on devices based on its new webOS platform, such as the Pre smartphone and its recently announced Pixi device. It launched the Pre -- which competes with Apple Inc's iPhone and Research in Motion's BlackBerry -- in June to strong reviews.
Palm said it shipped 823,000 smartphones in the fiscal first quarter, up 134 percent from the previous quarter.
'We're making significant progress with Palm's transformation,' Chief Executive Jon Rubinstein said in a statement.
Palm was an early pioneer in handheld devices but has been surpassed by rivals such as Apple and Research in Motion. Competition in the smartphone category is growing fiercer by the day, with competitors entering the market and more handset companies developing products based on Google Inc's Android platform.
On Thursday, Palm reported a net loss applicable to common stockholders of $164.5 million, or $1.17 a share, in its fiscal first quarter ended Aug. 31, versus a year-ago loss of $41.9 million, or 39 cents a share.
Excluding items, the company posted a loss of 10 cents a share, beating analysts' average estimate of 25 cents according to Reuters Estimates.
Revenue on a non-GAAP basis was $360.7 million versus Wall Street's average forecast of $289.1 million.
The Sunnyvale, California-based company's stock fell to $14.30 from its close of $14.44 on Nasdaq. It had risen to $15.30 in the minutes after the closing bell.
(Reporting by Gabriel Madway; Editing by Richard Chang) Keywords: PALM/ (gabriel.madway@thomsonreuters.com; +1 415 677 2536) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
The maker of the Pre smartphone, whose stock quadrupled this year as investors bet on the popularity of the mobile device, forecast second-quarter revenue of $240 million to $270 million, compared with an average forecast for non-GAAP revenue of just over $345 million.
Separately, Palm said it plans to sell 16 million shares of common stock. Elevation Partners, which already owns a sizable stake in Palm, expects to buy $35 million worth of stock in the offering.
Palm has staked its future on devices based on its new webOS platform, such as the Pre smartphone and its recently announced Pixi device. It launched the Pre -- which competes with Apple Inc's iPhone and Research in Motion's BlackBerry -- in June to strong reviews.
Palm said it shipped 823,000 smartphones in the fiscal first quarter, up 134 percent from the previous quarter.
'We're making significant progress with Palm's transformation,' Chief Executive Jon Rubinstein said in a statement.
Palm was an early pioneer in handheld devices but has been surpassed by rivals such as Apple and Research in Motion. Competition in the smartphone category is growing fiercer by the day, with competitors entering the market and more handset companies developing products based on Google Inc's Android platform.
On Thursday, Palm reported a net loss applicable to common stockholders of $164.5 million, or $1.17 a share, in its fiscal first quarter ended Aug. 31, versus a year-ago loss of $41.9 million, or 39 cents a share.
Excluding items, the company posted a loss of 10 cents a share, beating analysts' average estimate of 25 cents according to Reuters Estimates.
Revenue on a non-GAAP basis was $360.7 million versus Wall Street's average forecast of $289.1 million.
The Sunnyvale, California-based company's stock fell to $14.30 from its close of $14.44 on Nasdaq. It had risen to $15.30 in the minutes after the closing bell.
(Reporting by Gabriel Madway; Editing by Richard Chang) Keywords: PALM/ (gabriel.madway@thomsonreuters.com; +1 415 677 2536) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
© 2009 AFX News
