7/26....FFIV shares jump after earnings report
By Barbara C. Costanza, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 3:47 PM ET Jul 26, 2000 NewsWatch
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SEATTLE, (CBS.MW) -- Shares of F5 Networks jumped Wednesday after confusion over the company's third-quarter earnings release was cleared up.
After the market closed Tuesday, the company (FFIV: news, msgs) reported net income of $3.85 million, or 17 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $1.52 million, or 15 cents a share, last year. Initially, analysts expected F5 to earn 18 cents a share, according to First Call. The penny shortfall sent shares reeling in after-hours trading Tuesday.
However, that number was a combination of pretax and after tax estimates, according to First Call. The estimate was adjusted to a pretax estimate of 19 cents a share, according to First Call.
As a result, the company beat the consensus estimate by 3 cents a share, with its third-quarter income before taxes of $5.2 million, or 22 cents a share. In the second quarter, the company posted income before taxes $4.1 million, or 18 cents a share.
"We didn't know if we would report taxes this quarter," noted Robert Chamberlain, chief financial officer. "So some analysts included taxes while others left out taxes." This was the first quarter the company reported taxes. According to Chamberlain, the analysts that included taxes average an estimate of about 14 cents a share.
Shares rose 3 3/16 to 46 in recent trading. |
