Sun should beat Street's estimates according to CBS news because of strong demand for servers. I believe it!!
Also, found ANOTHER article:
Sun's Earnings Should Shine
Excerpts from article by: By Eric Moskowitz
Senior Writer
While the PC business is slowly becoming a commodity business, hardware and servermaker Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq:SUNW - news) is emerging as one of the main success stories of the current Internet age.
Sun is expected to beat estimates once again when it reports its third-quarter earnings after the close Thursday. The 20-analyst
First Call consensus earnings estimate for the company is 35 cents a share on a postsplit basis (Sun's 2-for-1 stock split announced at the start of the year went into effect Monday).
"The math's simple" on Sun's heady valuation, says Amit Chopra, an analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston who rates the
stock a buy. Chopra says strong sales in servers, services and two Internet-related businesses should give Sun year-over-year
revenue growth of 20% or more. "Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HWP - news) and IBM (NYSE:IBM - news) can't touch that growth." (Credit Suisse First Boston is not an underwriter for Sun.) Third-quarter revenue is expected to be around $2.9 billion for the company, up from $2.36 billion in its second quarter. Sun's fiscal year ends in June.
Wall Street has embraced Sun's Internet strategy much as it has IBM's, but unlike Big Blue, Sun is not held back by having to
compete in the treacherous waters of PCs. No wonder Goldman Sachs analyst Laura Conigliaro says Sun has "a betteridentity advantage."
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Sun's on such a roll, however, that analysts are focusing instead on the company's growth rate. "Sun has been one of thestandouts this quarter," says Conigliaro, whose firm has Sun on its recommended list, which is Goldman's highest rating.
(Goldman Sachs is not an underwriter for Sun.)
She says that as long as investors continue to compare Sun with H-P, which will only have 6% to 8% revenue growth this year, and IBM, with its high single-digit growth, Sun's 20%-plus growth rate looks pretty robust and makes the stock worth the premium at which it currently trades. Shares of Sun closed 2 15/16 lower at 62 9/16 Wednesday amid general weakness in technology. The stock has been up about 40% for the year.
The key to future success for the company will be execution, said CFO Michael Lehman in a recent conversation. "If we can continue to outexecute our competitors, much like Dell (Nasdaq:DELL - news) does in the PC space, then we should be fine." Of course, that's easier said than done.
But Sun should be wary of feeling too smug, warns McGuckin. "With so much going right, Sun reminds me of H-P five years ago," he says, referring to when H-P was adored by the Street much the same way Sun is now. "It's almost impossible to escape that phenomenon."
[Lynn & Thread, I don't believe Scott and co-workers will ever feel that smug. They know they can't afford to take any thing for granted.] Mephisto
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