Palm reports lower loss than expected, plans big stock offering

Strong smartphone sales helped Palm report a better than expected fiscal first quarter quarter loss of $1.17 per share. Excluding special items, the company lost 10 cents a share during the period which topped Wall Street's estimate of a 25 cent a share deficit. Company CEO Jon Rubinstein said, "We're making significant progress with Palm's transformation." The stock has risen fourfold this year, mostly in anticipation of the launch of the Palm Pre smartphone which was launched June 6th amid heavy anticipation.

The cellphone manufacturer also intends to issue 16 million additional shares of common stock. At the current price of the stock, that would raise approximately $231 million dollars for Palm. Elevation Partners, one of the company's largest stockholders, has committed to buy $35 million dollars of additional equity in the offering. Palm has already announced the follow-up to the Pre, the Palm Pixi. Like the Pre did, the new handset will make its debut at Sprint.

source: YAHOO