Samsung and HTC offered shared their best estimates for second quarter earnings over the long weekend, and Clearwire shareholders prepared to vote on Sprint Nextel’s takeover bid knowing that Softbank finally has FCC approval to buy a controlling interest in the nation’s third largest carrier.
While many Americans were enjoying a long weekend, two Asian smartphone giants previewed their second quarter earnings. Samsung reported record profits, but its results were still not good enough to please investors, and HTC reported a sharp drop in earnings, but saw its stock price rise.
Samsung said revenue was $50 billion in the second quarter. That’s more than the $43 billion that Apple made in its second quarter. But Samsung is not quite as profitable as Apple – it earned $8.3 billion in net income, Apple made 9.5 billion. One thing the two companies share is disappointed investors. Samsung’s stock slid more than three percent on Friday; investors had been hoping for even better results based on the enormous popularity of the Galaxy S4.
Meanwhile Taiwan’s HTC, a much smaller company, reported estimated Q2 revenue of $2.3 billion and $42 million in net income. Both of those amounts were off sharply from last year, but investors had apparently feared an even worse report, and HTC stock rose on Friday.
In other news, all eyes will be on Bellevue Washington Monday as the Clearwire minority shareholders vote on the company’s proposed takeover by Sprint Nextel. This is the last piece of the puzzle that needs to fall into place in order for Sprint Nextel to complete its deal with Softbank. On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission approved Softbank’s bid to buy a controlling interest in Sprint Nextel. But the two companies are counting on Clearwire’s spectrum to enable their growth plans. Sprint already owns 51% of Clearwire, but it wants the whole company and it now looks like that will finally happen. A number of Clearwire shareholders have already voiced support for Sprint’s bid, and the special committee appointed by the board has also endorsed the bid. Monday’s shareholder meeting does not get started until 10:30am Pacific Time so it may be late afternoon on the East Coast before the vote actually happens.
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