Broadband subscribers of Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ: chart) increased sharply by 385,000 during the quarter for a total of 3.9 million, up 48% compared with a year ago.

Revenues totaled $18.18 billion in the most recent quarter, up vs. $17.06 billion in the year-earlier period. Net income shot up to $1.76 billion, or 63 cents a share, from $1.2 billion, or 43 cents a share, in the 2004 first quarter. Analysts expected earnings of 60 cents a share.


Verizon has recently made moves to expand, setting a deal to acquire MCI Inc. But over the weekend, MCI embraced Qwest Communications International Inc.'s competitor takeover bid.

Internet retailer Amazon.com Inc.'s (AMZN: chart) 1Q earnings slid 30%, in spite of the 24% increase in revenue due to higher operating expenses as the company invests more to differentiate its offerings from other Web competitors.

The Seattle company expects 2Q revenue to gain 21% to 32%, though it predicted operating income would slide 7% to 42%. Amazon's shares fell in after-hours trading following the announcements.

The company said net income slid to $78 million, or 18 cents a share, from $111 million, or 26 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue climbed to $1.9 billion from $1.53 billion, at the high end of the company's outlook.

Amazon said it projects 2Q net sales of $1.68 billion to $1.83 billion, up from $1.39 billion a year earlier. Amazon expects operating income in a range of $50 million to $80 million, down from $86 million a year earlier.

Germany's largest engineering company Siemens AG (SI: chart) Wednesday posted a 35% drop in fiscal 2Q net profit on losses at its mobile phone and information technology units.

Siemens also warned that it may not reach its earlier forecast of profit growth in the full year.

The Munich, Germany, industrial conglomerate Wednesday reported net profit of 781 million euros ($1.01 billion), or 84 European cents a share, for 1Q, vs. 1.21 billion euros, or 1.30 euros a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue gained 4.3% to 18.56 billion euros from 17.79 billion euros. Orders also advanced, climbing to 20.67 billion euros from 19.67 billion euros.

The Japanese consumer-electronics giant Sony Corp. (SNE: chart) on Wednesday reported a net loss for 1Q on declining sales and restructuring costs. The company posted a group net loss of 56.45 billion yens ($532.6 million) in the three months ended March 31, compared with a year-earlier loss of 38.16 billion yens.The company's group revenue slid 4.2% to 1.697 trillion yens vs. 1.772 trillion yens.

For the year through March 2006, Sony expects group net profit to tumble 51% to 80 billion yens, with 4% growth in group revenue to 7.450 trillion yens.

Sony's shares rose 2% in Tokyo trading Wednesday to close at 3,990 yens a share shortly before earnings were announced.

Colgate-Palmolive Co.'s (CL: chart) 1Q net income dropped 11% on a restructuring charge. The New York consumer-products company said 1Q net income slid to $300.1 million, or 53 cents a share, from $338.5 million, or 59 cents, a year earlier.

Excluding the restructuring charge, the company earned $344.7 million, or 61 cents a share in the latest quarter. Analysts projected 1Q average earnings of 61 cents a share.

Colgate-Palmolive's 1Q net sales surged 9%, to $2.74 billion from $2.51 billion a year earlier.

STMicroelectronics said late Tuesday that it swung to 1Q loss. The Geneva-based company posted a $31 million net loss, compared with a net profit of $77 million a year earlier. STMicroelectronics said it lost three cents a share after asset impairments, restructuring charges and other items described as one-time amounted to seven cents a share, or $78 million. It had posted nine cents a share a year earlier. Analysts had forecast the company would break even.

Revenue dropped 2.7% to $2.08 billion from $2.03 billion. Gross profit slid 4.6% to $685 million from $718 million.