Smart phone maker Palm Inc. posted a wider loss for its fiscal first quarter on Thursday as revenue dropped, but adjusted earnings and sales handily beat Wall Street's expectations, according to AP. For the three months ended Aug. 28, the company posted a loss after paying preferred dividends of $164.5 million, or $1.17 per share, compared with a loss of $41.9 million, or 39 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, however, the company posted a much smaller loss of $13.6 million, or 10 cents per share, in the latest quarter. Revenue tumbled to $68 million from $366.9 million. But adjusted sales, which exclude deferred revenue and cost of sales from the Pre smart phone, totaled $360.7 million. Analysts, on average, were expecting a loss, excluding items, of 24 cents per share on adjusted sales of $297.7 million, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters. «We're making significant progress with Palm's transformation, and our culture of innovation is stronger than ever. We're launching more great Palm webOS products with more carriers, and turning our sights toward growth,» said Jon Rubinstein, chairman and CEO, in a statement. Palm shipped 823,000 smart phone units during the quarter, down 30 percent year-over-year. Compared with the prior quarter, however, shipments more than doubled. Separately, the company said it plans to offer about 16 million of its shares and use the proceeds for working capital and general corporate purposes. It also forecast second-quarter adjusted revenue of $240 million to $270 million and full-year revenue on the same basis of $1.6 billion to $1.8 billion. Shares climbed 41 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $14.85 in after-hours trading. The stock had closed earlier down 22 cents at $14.44.
