Palm, Inc. a maker of handheld devices and smartphones, will be announcing earnings @ 4:30 PM on Monday, October 1, 2007. According to Thompsons, analyst expect an EPS of $0.08. Palm has been kind enough to reveal preliminary EPS results at -$0.01 or breakeven (link).
The obstacles facing PALM are large and numerous.
- Heavy competition from RIMM for the business end users, AAPL for high end consumers, and NOK for the general market.
- Possible recession in the future.
- Slim margins
- No new software or OS updates to keep up with the changing markets and needs of users
Yesterday, after Sprint and Palm announced the release of the new Palm Centro for $99, shares shot up almost 6%. Is this product, the savior of Palm? or does it mark their final stand?
Initial reviews on GSMArena (link) are very negative when compared to the other offerings on the market. But a price point of $99 opens up the product, and the smartphone market to hundreds and thousands of potential consumers, whom original could not afford such a phone. My own personal opinion about this phone is that it will not succeed.
For Palm, Inc., I believe, it will move up to about $17.00 before Monday afternoon on improved Fiscal Year Outlook and fall after earnings announcement.
