Tech Company Earnings

The earnings season is in full swing, and this week five technology titans reported their fourth quarter results, and they were decidedly mixed.  On the negative side, Microsoft and Ebay reported lackluster results, and predicted further slowdown ahead.  However, IBM, Apple, and Google soundly beat estimates.

The market, as it has done over the last year, again chose to be pessimistic and concentrated on the negative, interpreting Microsoft’s results as an indicator for the whole industry.  But is it justified?  Both Ebay and Microsoft have had its own specific problems over last few years that are not related to the overall economy.  Microsoft, for example, has been losing mind and market share to Apple for quite some time.