Palm Announces Q2 FY2010 Results 59

Palm has just announced their quarterly results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2010.

Revenues for the quarter were a lowly $78.1 million with a gross profit of $5.5 million. These numbers, Palm is quick to point out, are GAAP-adjusted, which is to say the "revenues and direct cost of revenues for Palm webOS products [...] are deferred and recognized over the products' estimated economic lives."

Non-GAAP accounting paints a slightly prettier picture: $302.0 million revenue and gross profit of $77.3 million. Net loss (non-GAAP) for the quarter: $85.4 million.

Total smartphone shipments was also disappointingly low: 783,000 units shipped, 573,000 sell-through.

The numbers are are generally lower compared to last quarter, which saw GAAP adjusted revenues of $100.6 million and a net loss of $164.5 million. Last quarter Palm shipped 823,000 units. Palm does not break out specifics on which phones make up their shipment numbers.

Rubinstein's quote indicates they're still looking at the long term and feeling good about the work they're doing now, however:

"We are continuing to execute strongly against our long-term strategy with the delivery of Palm Pixi, the new carrier launches completed this quarter, and the upcoming opening of Palm’s full developer program,” said Jon Rubinstein, Palm’s chairman and chief executive officer. “We’re still in the early stages of a long race, and we’re energized by the opportunity to compete in this exciting market. We remain confident that Palm’s innovative product design capabilities, integrated cloud services and the differentiated and delightful Palm webOS experience will provide the foundation for our sustained success.”

Full release after the break. We'll listen in on the call and let you know if any news sneaks in there.

Update: Quick update on numbers: I'm neither an accountant nor an analyst, but it does sound to me like Palm is looking at slimmer margins on the Pix (no surprise) and increased expenses from both Marketing and R&D. In that context, not so bad.

Update 2: We got confirmation of webOS 1.3.5 and a hint that we won't see new products beyond Pre and Pixi for awhile. Check out the details here.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ:PALM) today reported that total revenues in the second quarter of fiscal year 2010, ended Nov. 27, 2009, were $78.1 million. Gross profit was $5.5 million, and gross margin was 7.0 percent. These results include the effects of subscription accounting applied to Palm^® webOS™ products as required by GAAP.⁽¹⁾ In accordance with this methodology, revenues and direct cost of revenues for Palm webOS products (currently Palm Pre™ and Palm Pixi™ smartphones) are deferred and recognized over the products’ estimated economic lives.

To facilitate comparisons to Palm’s historical results, Palm has included non-GAAP adjusted measures, which exclude the impact of subscription accounting, stock-based compensation and other items detailed later in this release. The company believes this information will help investors better evaluate its current period performance and trends in its business.

Non-GAAP Adjusted Revenues in the second quarter totaled $302.0 million, non-GAAP Adjusted Gross Profit was $77.3 million and non-GAAP Adjusted Gross Margin was 25.6 percent.

“We are continuing to execute strongly against our long-term strategy with the delivery of Palm Pixi, the new carrier launches completed this quarter, and the upcoming opening of Palm’s full developer program,” said Jon Rubinstein, Palm’s chairman and chief executive officer. “We’re still in the early stages of a long race, and we’re energized by the opportunity to compete in this exciting market. We remain confident that Palm’s innovative product design capabilities, integrated cloud services and the differentiated and delightful Palm webOS experience will provide the foundation for our sustained success.”

The company shipped a total of 783,000 smartphone units during the quarter, representing a 5 percent decrease from the first quarter of fiscal year 2010 and a year-over-year increase of 41 percent compared to the second quarter of fiscal year 2009. Smartphone sell-through for the second quarter was 573,000 units, down 29 percent from the first quarter of fiscal year 2010 and down 4 percent year-over-year.

On a GAAP basis, net loss applicable to common stockholders for the second quarter of fiscal year 2010 was $(85.4) million, or $(0.54) per diluted common share. This compares to a net loss applicable to common stockholders for the second quarter of fiscal year 2009 of $(508.6) million or $(4.64) per diluted common share. The company’s second quarter of fiscal year 2009 results included a non-cash charge with a net impact of $396.7 million to the tax provision pertaining to the increase of the valuation allowance for the Company’s U.S. deferred tax assets.

The company’s net loss applicable to common stockholders on a GAAP basis reflects accounting guidance, effective in the first quarter of fiscal year 2010, which requires the anti-dilutive provisions of Palm’s series C preferred shares and related warrants to be treated as derivatives for financial reporting purposes. The fair value of the derivatives were estimated as of the first day of fiscal year 2010 and are marked to market on a quarterly basis, with any change in value reflected in the company’s financial results for the period. The series C derivatives balance was $178.7 million at the end of the second quarter of fiscal year 2010 compared to $235.0 million at the end of the first quarter of fiscal year 2010. This reduction in fair value resulted in a $56.3 million non-cash gain on series C derivatives and was reflected in the company’s second quarter GAAP financial results. With regard to the series C derivatives, any future increases in Palm’s stock price from period to period will be reflected as a non-cash loss on these derivatives in the company’s financial results, and any future decreases will be reflected as a non-cash gain in the company’s financial results.

Non-GAAP Net Loss for the second quarter of fiscal year 2010 was $(59.6) million, or $(0.37) per diluted share. This compares to a non-GAAP Net Loss for the second quarter of fiscal year 2009 of $(80.2) million, or $(0.73) per diluted share.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, for the second quarter of fiscal year 2010 totaled $(70.1) million. EBITDA, adjusted to exclude the impact of subscription accounting, stock-based compensation, net other income (expense), restructuring charges and a gain on series C derivatives, or Adjusted EBITDA, totaled $(48.3) million.

The company’s cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments balance was $590.0 million at the end of the second quarter of fiscal year 2010. This includes net proceeds of approximately $360 million from the company’s public equity offering, which closed on Sept. 23, 2009. Cash from operations for the second quarter of fiscal year 2010 was $16.7 million.

Palm may periodically provide new software features free of charge to customers of its Palm webOS products and currently recognizes Palm webOS product revenues and related standard cost of revenues on a subscription basis based on the applicable product’s estimated economic life, which is currently 24 months. The company records deferred revenues and deferred cost of revenues on its balance sheet, and amortizes them into earnings on a straight-line basis over the estimated economic product life.

Palm announced today that it expects to early adopt two recently released accounting standards related to revenue recognition, Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2009-13 and ASU No. 2009-14, effective for its third quarter of fiscal year 2010. These accounting changes will result in a substantial portion of Palm webOS product revenues being recognized upon delivery. The remaining Palm webOS revenues, which are related to future services and deliverables, will be recorded as deferred revenues on the company’s balance sheet, and amortized into earnings on a straight-line basis over the estimated economic product life, which is currently 24 months. Under the new standards, all related cost of revenues will be recognized upon delivery. This change in accounting will reduce the amount of revenues that Palm will defer on its balance sheet but will have no impact on cash flows and does not change how Palm accounts for Palm OS^® products, like the Centro™, or its Treo™ line. Consistent with the company’s past practice, Palm will continue to provide non-GAAP, adjusted measures that exclude the impact of deferred revenue accounting, stock-based compensation and other items as appropriate.