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Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), reported Q2 numbers exceeding most targets but showing slight drag do to the delays with Vista and Office 2007.   

Revenue for the quarter was up to $12.5b from $11.8b.  Earnings were down to 42.63b from $3.65b last year.

Strong Xbox sales led to a 76% increase in revenue for the entertainment and devices division.  But with each Xbox sold at a loss, the division showed an operating loss of $289m on revenue of $2.96b.  Guidance expects 12m units to be sold by June.

The online services division, which is chasing Google and Yahoo showed an operating loss of $155m on revenue that was up 5%.  In the Search component of the division, for December ComScore Networks ratings showed Microsoft’s share of US searches down to 10.5% from just over 14% last year. 

More detailed press coverage on Microsoft’s finances can be found at:

Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Marketwatch

Netflix  (NASDAQ: NFLX), reported Q4 earnings.

The company announced earnings of $14.9m ($0.21/share) versus  $3.3m (excluding a $34.9m tax gain) in the prior year.  The returns beat consensus which projected $0.15/share. 

During the period, Netflix added 654k new subscribers.  Revenue was up 44% to $277.2m

More detailed press coverage on Netflix’ finances can be found at:

Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Marketwatch

Ebay (NASDAY: EBAY), reported Q4 earnings late Wednesday.

4th quarter profit was up 24% with sales volume beating expectations.  Net income was up 5 cents a share over the prior year with net income at $346m.  Sales were up 29% to $1.72b.

The Paypal payments division showed robust growth with payments up 37% to revenues of $417m.  The communications division, home of Skype, showed revenue of $66m which according to comments by CEO Meg Whitman translated to “not yet developing as quickly as we hoped..”

For the coming year, Ebay raised guidance to project earnings for 2007 to be in the range of $1.25 to $1.29 a share; ahead of analyst average estimates of $1.23.  The increase is partly result of expected revenue from the acquisition of Stubhub (est. $120m) and growth at Paypal.

More detailed press coverage on Ebay’s finances can be found at:

Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Marketwatch

Yahoo  (NASDAQ: YHOO), reported Q4 earnings.

The company announced profit was down 61% to $269m from $683m but revenues were up 13% to $1.7b.   Free cash flow was $278m for the quarter.

Average analyst expectations were earnings of earnings of 13 cents per share on earnings. Excluding items including stock based compensation expense, the company had earnings of 21 cents a share.

Also of interest, the Yahoo Answers, Flickr, del.icio.us and Yahoo! Video properties surpassed 100m unique monthly visitors and 50% of those users are under 35 years old; a statistic the company says is better than both MySpace and Facebook.

In the company’s earnings call, there was significant attention on the coming quarters as well as high expectations for the implementation of the Panama modular advertising platform.

More detailed press coverage on Yahoo’s finances can be found at:

Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Marketwatch

I’ve been a long time Netflix customer.  I begrudgingly tolerate Netflix’ well documented throttling practices. (For those unfamiliar: throttling was the name applied to the intentional slow down of deliveries to insure an revenue maximizing ratio of movies delivered per rental fee).  I also tolerate little annoyances like bonus-feature discs (eg/ a disc with nothing on it but directors commentary and deleted scenes) being counted as a separate rental, or the lack of availability of an occasional title.  As a movie fan, I used to hate going to rent a film only to find my local store had none available, nor anything else I wanted to see. Netflix’s larger pool of titles, the convenience of home delivery service and lack of late fees won me over despite the occasional frustrations.

Netflix retains my business today because they have provided the best service of its kind.   They offered a real value. Now, in the increasingly competitive and bloody battles of the movie rental world, that value proposition is degrading.

Netflix is due to announce earnings January 24th.   The expectation is that both subscription and revenue numbers will be up and I imagine, will exceed expectations.  It’s also expected that battles with Blockbuster and ongoing litigation are taking a toll. Operating expenses, including heavy marketing costs (to fight Blockbuster), as well as legal expenses, will be way be up year over year. Whatever the numbers, or the reaction from The Street, Netflix faces a difficult future. In the spirit of analyst’s reviews around earnings announcements, here are three talking points from a list of their troubles:

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General Electric (NYSE: GE), parent company of NBC Universal, reported Q4 earnings.

Of the company’s entertainment properties, the NBC Universal Segment showed profit at $841m up from $801m, with revenue up 1% year over year.

Additionally, following a poor 4th place Nielsen rating for NBC TV in the prior season, prime time and non-news ratings were rebounding in December thanks to the success of the breakout hit Heroes and NFL Games broadcast under the  new long term deal (signed in April and valid through 2011) with the NFL.  Cable channels USA Networks, Bravo, and CNBC continue to do well with audiences.

More detailed press coverage of GE’s finances can be found at:

Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Marketwatch

General Electric (NYSE: GE), parent company of NBC Universal, reported Q4 earnings.

Of the company’s entertainment properties, the NBC Universal Segment showed profit at $841m up from $801m, with revenue up 1% year over year.

Additionally, following a poor 4th place Nielsen rating for NBC TV in the prior season, prime time and non-news ratings were rebounding in December thanks to the success of the breakout hit Heroes and NFL Games broadcast under the  new long term deal (signed in April and valid through 2011) with the NFL.  Cable channels USA Networks, Bravo, and CNBC continue to do well with audiences.

More detailed press coverage of GE’s finances can be found at:

Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Marketwatch