fourth quarter report

On Thursday a fourth-quarter report will be posted by Microsoft. The company will report a 9% increase in its profit while investors are not satisfied as they believe the Redmond company will never again recapture its old growth rates.

Microsoft’s shares have grown by 10% over the past month but they still remain in the mid-$20 range, a level they have circled since 1998, adjusted for splits.

Apple reported record revenue and profits for its fiscal fourth quarter this week boosted by the strong sales of Macs, iPhones and iPads. The company Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer called the quarter a "great fiscal quarter” as it brought a profit of $4.31 billion, compared to $2.53 billion for the same period last year. The report shows that for the quarter ended Sept. 25, Apple recorded $20.34 billion in revenue, an increase of nearly 67% from the year-ago quarter's sales figure of $12.21 billion.