SUNW--Sun Earnings Beat Expectations
By CLIFF EDWARDS, AP Technology Writer
PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) - Sun Microsystems' first-quarter net income rose 88 percent, easily topping Wall Street expectations, as it continued to benefit from a scramble for equipment to manage and store Web traffic.
Net income for the three months ended Sept. 26 rose to $510 million, or 30 cents a share, from $271 million, or a split-adjusted 16 cents, the comparable period a year ago.
Excluding acquisition-related costs, Sun earned $276 million, or 18 cents per share in the year-ago period.
The company had been expected to earn 26 cents a share this quarter, according to a survey of analysts by First Call/Thomson Financial.
Sun was scheduled to report earnings after regular trading closed Wednesday, but issued them early after the release was mistakenly posted on its Web site.
The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company's shares jumped as high as $119.50 in trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, before falling back to $110.19, down $1.19.
``We continue to post the kind of numbers that reflect our ongoing share gains in the market place,'' company chief executive Scott McNealy said in a statement. ``We're picking up right where we left off last year.''
Revenue soared 60 percent to $5.05 billion from $3.15 billion as customers snapped up high-end computers and data-storage equipment for managing Internet commerce and serving up Web pages.
The company competes mainly with Hewlett-Packard Co. and IBM Corp. Sun executives predicted they would gain more market share after it revamps its product lines in the next year. |
