Holiday Sales Strengthen Palm’s Quarterly Revenue

Palm Inc. reported better-than-expected earnings for the latest quarter, boosted by strong holiday sales of its hand-held electronic organizers. Revenue more than doubled but failed to meet the high end of the company’s own recent forecasts, sending Palm’s shares plunging in after-hours trading. Palm said operating earnings grew 77% to $27.5 million, or 5 cents a share, as revenue surged to $522.2 million from $258.6 million. Analysts were expecting earnings of 4 cents. Shares of Santa Clara, Calif.-based Palm fell $5.50 to close at $38.13 amid a tech sell-off on Nasdaq before the report. The shares dropped to $31.50 after the release. The company went public at $38 a share in March and rose as high as $165 on its first day of trading. Separately, Palm said it agreed to buy closely held WeSync.com Inc., which lets Palm users share information over the Internet, for as much as $45 million in cash or stock. WeSync is based in Portland, Ore.