Arik Hesseldahl

Recent Posts by Arik Hesseldahl

EMC Cuts 2012 Outlook and Misses Profit Forecast

Data storage giant EMC said today that its sales for the 2012 fiscal year are going to come in below previously stated expectations.

EMC shares fell by 51 cents, or more than 2 percent, as of a few minutes after 11 am ET, after the company said sales would fall short of the $22 billion mark it had expected in prior forecasts. For the third quarter, it reported a per-share profit of 40 cents, missing the Street’s expectation of 42 cents.

EMC is just the latest of the large tech companies to report disappointing results for the quarter. Microsoft, Intel and IBM have all been struggling with various ends of a generalized cutback in IT spending taking place against the backdrop of a weakening world economy.

Sales for the quarter were $5.3 billion versus the $5.5 billion analysts had expected. For the full year, EMC said it expects to earn between $1.68 and $1.70 share, short of the $1.72 analysts had been predicting. As recently as July, EMC had stuck to its guns, saying it expected to earn at least $1.70 a share for the year.

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Another gadget you don’t really need. Will not work once you get it home. New model out in 4 weeks. Battery life is too short to be of any use.

— From the fact sheet for a fake product entitled Useless Plasticbox 1.2 (an actual empty plastic box) placed in L.A.-area Best Buy stores by an artist called Plastic Jesus