Palm slashes earnings targets for quarter

Palm Inc. slashed its fiscal second-quarter earnings targets, blaming a delay in the U.S. launch of a new Treo smart phone.

For the quarter ending Friday, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based maker of hand-held devices said it expected earnings to be 10 cents to 11 cents a share on revenue of $390 million to $395 million. Palm previously had projected earnings of 15 cents to 18 cents a share on revenue of $430 million to $450 million.

Excluding one-time items, Palm now expects earnings of 15 cents to 16 cents a share, compared with its earlier forecast of 20 cents to 23 cents a share.

Palm will report second-quarter results Dec. 19. Its shares fell 55 cents to $15.37 and slid an additional $1.37 in extended trading after the announcement of its weaker outlook.