The company said recently that it expected to meet analysts' earnings projections of 15 cents a share for the first quarter.

Home Depot, however, said it would meet analysts' estimates for the third quarter.

"We have made it more difficult by not meeting our revenue goal for the first quarter," Mr. Hynes said.

Paul S. Otellini, an executive vice president, also said he expected Intel to meet its financial estimates for the current quarter.

On Wednesday, the company said that it would meet its profit forecasts for the third quarter.

The climb was aided by Motorola's confirmation that it remained on course to meet its previous projections for the current quarter.

After regular trading ended, the company reported revenue that met Wall Street's expectations for the current quarter.

Even as it met targets for the quarter, shares plunged 14 percent.

But the company said, "We are confident that we will meet all our bank covenants for the quarter and trailing 12 months."

Yesterday, Sprint said that its core operation would fail to meet analysts' earnings expectations for the third quarter.