Vista Sales Beat Forecasts, MSFT Shares Climb

A report from software researcher NPD Group says Microsoft's Vista OS December sales were stronger than expected. NPD analyst Chris Swenson said the results were particularly impressive considering MSFT's main marketing push doesn't come until the end of January, when the OS is released to retail customers. Vista sales are 4% behind XP in its first month -- but XP was released to businesses and consumers together -- and 62.5% higher than Windows 2000 in its launch month. Big companies may be interested in adopting Vista sooner than expected: With XP, twice as many large and mid-sized companies bought volume licenses as small companies; in Vista's first month, the ratio was seven to three. Swenson: "That says that the large enterprises are actually very interested in this technology... I think these results could be classified as 'strong,' or at least 'stronger than expected,'" He said that not many businesses went for Vista Ultimate Edition, while noting that buying Ultimate is the only way small businesses can access one of Vista's most compelling features: its BitLocker security feature that fully encrypts an OS volume, similar to Apple's FileVault. MSFT shares gained $1.04 (3.5%) to $30.70, hitting a 52-week high of $30.75 intraday.

• Sources: CNET News, MSN/AP
• Related commentary: Bill Gates' CES Keynote Insights, Microsoft Vista 's Voice-Recognition Software: The Future of PC Applications, Microsoft Vista Still Isn't Ready?, Pacific Crest Analyst Says Microsoft Is Likely To Launch Home Server. Conference call transcripts: Microsoft F1Q07
• Potentially impacted stocks and ETFs: Microsoft Corp. (MSFT). Competitors: Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL), Google Inc. (GOOG), International Business Machines Corp. (IBM). ETFs: iShares Goldman Sachs Technology Index (IGM), iShares S&P Global Technology (IXN), NASDAQ 100 Trust Shares (QQQQ), Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK), Vanguard Information Technology (VGT)

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