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Some sectors are getting hit harder than others. At the beginning of October, analysts were expecting the materials sector, which includes big mining and steel companies, to be up 29% for the fourth quarter. But that collective estimate is now -12%, a nosedive resulting at least in part from tanking commodity values. "Analysts feel that earnings weakness is spreading beyond the financials and consumer discretionary sectors, which includes industries like retailing and travel, into other sectors like energy and industrials," says John Butters, director of U.S. earnings research for Thomson Reuters. Among the few companies that may buck the negative...
...people still pay for it. In fact, last year Microsoft brought in about $19 billion, or just under a third of its total revenue, from the business unit that sells Office. And increased sales of Office, in particular, are credited with helping the Redmond, Wash.-based firm beat analyst estimates for first-quarter earnings...
Goldman Sachs analyst Susan Friar recently called Microsoft a "laggard" in moving to browser-based software. But, in reality, it's not even a player. Although Microsoft announced on Oct. 27 that it will roll out "lightweight" Web versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote as part of its next release of Office, that release isn't expected until 2010. Meanwhile, Zoho, which is based in Pleasanton, Calif. and has 500 employees, has been offering its free, Web-based word processor, Zoho Writer, since 2005. Google Docs, which is ad-supported, has been around since...
...Analysts say government officials are trying to keep a wave of business failures in the property sector from engulfing the larger domestic economy. Commercial and residential real estate markets in Japan are slumping, and with banks reluctant to lend, developers, contractors and other property companies are increasingly in peril. On Oct. 9, New City Residence Corp., a real estate investment trust, went bust, becoming the first REIT to fail since the trusts were allowed to sell stock to the public. "Property developers could face more bankruptcies if banks continue their severe attitude," says Masahiro Mochizuki, a REIT analyst at Credit...
...that targeted measures to prevent more business failures, such as those proposed by Aso's adminstration this week, can stem the tide."The most important thing is to prevent the bankruptcy of the real estate companies, so that it doesn't expand to other industries," says Yoji Otani, senior analyst at Credit Suisse...