NEWS - Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Xbox Sales Rise 30 Percent
"Results were strong across the board, with the exception of the barely significant small-business unit, which is about 1.6 percent of revenue," said Alan Davis, analyst with McAdams Wright Ragen in Seattle. "The three core business units which make up about 86 percent of sales all grew at double-digit growth rates, and increased as a percentage of total revenue." Personal computer demand, server demand and overall technology spending increased in the period, said Curt Anderson, the company’s investor relations director, adding that the MSN Internet division turned a profit, a change from the December period, and that Xbox console sales rose 30 percent. Microsoft’s balance of deferred revenue, or contracts that have yet to be recognized as sales, was $7.5 billion, down $326 million from December, due to poor upgrades of business software sold as a subscription. The company had forecast a deferred revenue decline of as much as $400 million. The company said its deferred revenue balance would climb to $7.9 billion or above in the fourth quarter. For its fiscal fourth quarter, the company said it expects to post earnings of about 28 cents a share, excluding stock-based compensation costs of about 5 cents a share. Analysts had been expecting earnings of 27 cents a share, by that measure.Source: http://cbs.marketwatch.com/
