Posted on 04/28/2006 11:28:15 AM PDT by HAL9000
Excerpt -
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Microsoft Corp.'s stock tumbled as much as 12% Friday, its third-worst percentage decline, underscoring Wall Street's swift negative reaction to the software powerhouse's earnings and lowered financial forecast.At its lowest level of the session, the stock's fall wiped around $33.85 billion from Microsoft's market value, based on a calculation using the number of diluted shares listed in the results. Bill Gates, the company's chairman and chief software architect, lost over $3 billion in wealth, on paper, as the value of his stake in the company declined to $23.5 billion on the stock's nosedive.
The stock, a component of the Dow Jones Industrials Average, dropped as low as $24 in early trading one day after Microsoft's latest financial report card, issued after Thursday's closing bell. Shares recovered a bit and were down $3.01, or just over 11%, to $24.24 in heavy volume of over 406 million -- its second heaviest volume day on record.
According to data from Thomson Financial, the stock's latest decline was only outdone by a 14.5% slump in 2000, when a federal court ruled Microsoft had violated U.S. antitrust laws.
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(Excerpt) Read more at us.rd.yahoo.com ...
Someone found out that Bill Gates is using Linux on his personal computer.
Maybe they need a software patch for their earnings?
If oil companies get hit with a Windfall Profits Tax, will Microsoft get a Financial Loss Tax Cut?
Both Microsoft and Intel are going through interesting times..
I'm sure the China trade will save MS.
I wonder if this news also means that Mac OSX and Linux are gaining ground in the OS market.
BTW, OSS ping.
Vista will save them!
Apple is at least gaining ground in the stock market.
I wonder if a stock analyst finally got hold of a Vista preview installation.
They finally heard that I switched to the Mac. ;)
and has been for a while... :-)
all you need to know . . .
Profit Margin (ttm): 31.57%
Operating Margin (ttm): 40.92%
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=MSFT
The desktop industry has been far too stable for far too long thats not really a good long term thing. Still MS has some of the best minds out there I am sure they will adjust to whatever comes down the pipe
Two things the stock price reflects least:
Quality of product
Market Share
Beats the heck out of the oil industry numbers.
Which arguably helped trigger the dot-com crash and subsequent stock market turmoil...
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