A Look at Recent Tech-Industry Earnings

Here is a summary of recent revenues and reports for selected research companies and what they reveal about the state of spending and the overall economy:

Oct. 13: Google Inc. says third-quarter revenues grew 26 percent and revenue grew 33 percent from last year. It's the latest reminder of how the company has used its dominance on the Internet to build a business that weathers economic turbulence better than most companies. Mounting worries about another global recession haven't shaken the Internet's search and advertising leader so far.

Oct. 17: IBM Corp. raised its full-year guidance again, offering fresh evidence of the company's ability to wring profit from innovation services and software contracts. But, IBM slightly missed on the revenue forecast, reviving questions about the company's ability to bring in enough new business to fuel its expected growth.

Oct. 18: Apple Inc. failed to set a new sales record, and its financial results came in below expectations - a rare miss for the company. Afterwards several record quarters, the period saw Apple biding its time, with no new iPhone or iPad releases. On the whole, revenues and revenue rose from last year at rates that would be the envy of any large company.

Intel Corp. topped Wall Street's targets as net income rose 17 percent and revenue rose 29 percent. Intel CEO Paul Otellini credited stronger sales of processors for laptop PCs and servers. The results offered some comfort for investors jittery about the weak state of the global computer market. Intel as well offered strong revenue guidance for the all-important holiday fourth quarter.

EMC Corp., the world's largest maker of data storage computers, says its third-quarter net income grew 28 percent, thanks to strong worldwide demand for its cloud computing and data storage products and services.

Oct. 19: eBay Inc.'s third-quarter net income climbed 14 percent, as its namesake site and PayPal online payment service continued to show healthy growth - more of which is coming from consumers shopping and transferring funds using the company's smartphone and tablet apps.

Oct. 20: Microsoft Corp.'s revenues for the latest quarter increased 6 percent. The results for the July-September period were highlighted by revived growth in the division that includes the software maker's Windows franchise. It's the first time that Microsoft has posted a year-over-year gain in Windows revenue since the end of 2010.

Nokia Corp. narrowed its losses although its smartphone sales continued to suffer in the face of stiff competition from Apple Inc.'s iPhone. Finland's biggest company reported a third-quarter net loss of €68 million. Although that's a big reverse from last year's equivalent profit of €529 million, it represented an improvement on the second quarter's €368 million loss.