Tech earnings shows some strength, led by Microsoft

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp and a diverse group of technology companies posted quarterly results that met or beat Wall Street forecasts on Thursday in a good sign for the sector in the face of deepening economic gloom.

Shares of Microsoft, whose products range from the Windows operating system to the Xbox video game system, rose about 1 percent in extended trade.

"The company continues to set reasonable expectations and meet or beat them as they did here," said David Katz, chief investment officer of Matrix Asset Advisors. "The expectation was that they would bring down guidance, they only did that in a modest way. They seem to have a grasp on all their business."

Manufacturing services provider Flextronics International Ltd's adjusted result met analysts' forecast and its shares added 4 percent after closing at $3.74.

Hilliard Lyons analyst Thomas Carpenter said Flextronics' results were likely better than people were looking for.

"There was a little bit of slowing in the quarter, mostly toward the end, and things are slowing further in this quarter. I think this is going to be a multi-quarter slowdown as we unwind the credit crunch."

Western Digital Corp , the world's second-largest maker of hard disk drives, said its net profit more than tripled, while revenue edged past analysts' average forecast. The company's shares were largely unchanged in after-hours trading after closing at $13.05.

Technology firms over the past few weeks have repeatedly complained of poor visibility into the December quarter and beyond, and storm clouds over the global economy have prompted many to issues cautious forecasts.

Computer hardware maker Ingram Micro Inc on Wednesday elected to end its practice of issuing forecasts altogether, citing the "unpredictability" of global markets.

Ingram, whose quarterly profit and sales fell from last year, said it expects the global economy's softness to continue into next year. The company's shares closed at $12.18 and dipped in extended trade before recovering

"I've been covering the stock eight years," said Matthew Sheerin, an analyst at Thomas Weisel Partners. "This is the first time the company has not given revenue or earnings guidance. This is a sign visibility is extremely limited."

(Reporting by Gabriel Madway, Sinead Carew, David Lawsky, Jim Finkle; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

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