Palm’s Quarter Beats Estimates

Palm, Inc. (PALM) reported earnings for its fiscal first quarter. The mobile phone maker said it lost $0.10 a share which was still $0.15 better than consensus estimates. Revenues declined 1.6% year-over-year to $360.7 million versus expectations of $290.70 million.

Gross margins came in at 27.9% above 25.6% consensus. The company shipped 823,000 units during the quarter, up 134% from the fourth quarter, but down 30% year-over-year.

For the second quarter, the company gave downside revenue guidance in the range of $240 to $270 million, below consensus of $346.8 million, but issued upside revenue guidance for fiscal year 2010 with revenues in the range of $1.6 to $1.8 billion vs. $1.57 billion consensus. Shares are currently down 3% in the pre-market.

From the Bull Pen: Those bullish on Palm are looking at it as a long-term play. One can fade (read: buy) today’s weakness. But still, near-term sell stops can be set below $13.50 support for traders with a shorter time frame.

From the Bear Cave: The tech heavy Nasdaq 100 (NDX) is nearing 1750 resistance on the weekly chart. If you think the tech sector is running out of gas, consider playing the downside using the Ultrashort Q’s (QID). A short-term sell stop can be set 2% below entry.

Quick Check Around the World

Asian trading closed with the Nikkei 1.68%, India 0.20%, Hang Seng 1.71%, Shanghai 2.02%, and Taiwan 0.50%.

Across the pond, we see the FTSE 0.77%, CAC 0.47%, DAX 0.58%,

As of 8:15 a.m. EST, S&P Futures are trading +1.00 to 1063.75 and Nasdaq futures are +1.750 to 1721.25.

A Look at Commodities

Over in commodities, crude oil is -0.54 to 71.93 while gold is +1.60 to 1015.00 this morning. Silver is -0.10 to 17.16 and copper -2.250 to 285.75.

The dollar index is +0.2150 to 76.6450.

No economic events scheduled today.

Good luck, Minyans! Have a great weekend!