Palm: Believe It or Not, I'm Walking on Air

March 4, 2009 at 1:15 pm PT

greatest-american-hero_pre Investors are putting a lot of faith in the Pre’s ability to drag Palm back to its feet again. Despite the magnitude of the third-quarter miss the company warned of Tuesday, its shares are trading higher today, at one point reaching a peak of $7.86. It seems the market’s so taken with the Pre that it’s willing to overlook a jaw-dropping $70 million revenue shortfall.

Indeed, in a note to clients this morning, Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Walkley upgraded Palm to a buy, suggesting the Pre will finally bring an end to the company’s streak of crappy financial quarters. “We believe several carriers plan to launch the Palm Pre, and despite the challenging macro environment, we anticipate this unique product will resonate with consumers,” Walkley wrote. “We believe the ramp of Pre smart phones will result in a significant earnings recovery.”

And perhaps it will. Buzz around the device continues to build, with some consumers postponing new handset purchases in anticipation of the Pre. But Palm (PALM) better act soon. Because the longer it waits to bring the device to market, the closer we are to Apple’s (AAPL) next refresh of the iPhone, which will invariably suck all the air out of the smartphone room.

Tagged with: Apple, carrier, consumer, earnings, handset, investors, iPhone, John Paczkowski, Michael Walkley, Palm, Piper Jaffray, Pre, product, recovery, refresh, revenue, shares

comments so far. Add yours.

http://murphymac.com Brendan Walsh

I’ve been pretty surprised about the buzz around this device. And I wonder if Palm has the chops to create an app development opportunity comparable to what Apple has with their App Store.
I’ve always assumed the iPhone hit the ground running partially, just partially, because of iPod/iTunes momentum. Does Palm have any of that? Anything like iTunes in Palm’s corner?
http://allthingsd.com/ Steven Thomas

Apple beats all estimates and breaks all company records – the stock plummets the next day. Palm reports a $70 million plunge – everyone’s rushing out to buy it. I don’t understand.