Palm posts $105 million loss for the fourth fiscal quarter

Despite a pretty successful launch, Palm’s Pre arrived too late to pull the company out of the red. The Sunnyvale-based company posted its fourth quarter fiscal earnings yesterday, reporting a net loss of $105 million – or $.78 per diluted share. This continues an unfortunate trend for the company, which saw a $43.4 million loss in the year ago quarter.

Palm shies away from any in-depth figures regarding the Pre, but it does claim to have collectively shipped 351,000 smartphones during the fourth fiscal quarter. This is up 6% from the third quarter, and a year over year decline in shipments of 62%. The company’s total revenue for the 2009 fiscal year was $86.8 million, with a gross profit of $20.1 million and a gross margin of 23.1%.

Palm’s chairman and CEO, Jon Rubinstein, sees the launch of webOS and Pre as a significant milestone, one that has “reentered” the company into the race. He recognizes that there is more to accomplish, but feels that the groundwork is laid for a “very promising future.”