RadioShack lost $8 million in the first quarter, and the stock was off more than 10% in Tuesday morning trading. RadioShack has contracts the three largest US carriers, and its earnings release offers some insight into how those products are faring with customers. The earnings report mentioned “a decline in Sprint postpaid wireless sales, as well as decreased sales of prepaid wireless handsets, laptops and home entertainment accessories. This decrease was partially offset by higher postpaid wireless sales of AT&T, as well as sales of tablet devices, tablet accessories, headphones, and a net increase in sales at U.S. RadioShack company-operated stores of Verizon Wireless postpaid sales compared to T-Mobile postpaid sales in the 2011 first quarter.” Last summer, RadioShack ended its partnership with T-Mobile and began working with Verizon Wireless.
Meanwhile Great Britain’s ARM Holdings (ARMH) beat Wall Street’s earnings estimates, but its stock is trading lower today. ARM stock tripled in value between spring of 2010 and spring of 2011, and has traded in the $22 – $32 per share range since then. The company has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the smartphone revolution: it licenses its chip designs to the semiconductor makers who supply applications processors for mobile devices. The company says first quarter revenue was $209.4 million, up 13% yer-on-year, and processor license revenues were up 27% to $65.2 million.
ST-Ericsson, a joint venture owned by Ericsson (ERIC) and STMicroelectronics (STM) says it lost $297 million in the first quarter on sales of $290 million. Yesterday the company announced a restructuring that will eliminate more than a thousand jobs and transfer its stand-alone applications processor business to parent company STMicroelectronics.
Finally, 3M (MMM) stock is up slightly this morning following a good earnings report, but the company’s wireless business was not one of the bright spots. Sales at 3M’s Electro and Communications business unit were $808 million, down 3.4% year-on-year. Operating income was $168 million, down 5.7%.
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