VRTS ($62) keeps targets, sees storage hardware glut
(adds details)
SAN FRANCISCO, July 5 (Reuters) - Veritas Software Corp.
<VRTS.O>, the largest developer of programs to manage and
monitor storage networks, will meet previous guidance for its
fiscal second quarter, as customers use its software to make
use of extra hardware, the chief executive said on Thursday.
Gary Bloom, the chief executive, and Ken Lonchar, the chief
financial officer, said in a telephone interview that they
would stick to previous guidance despite a Thursday warning by
storage hardware leader EMC Corp.<EMC.N>
"We've had 35-50 percent total revenue growth for the
quarter and for the year, and Ken reiterated the revenue
guidance for the year, and I reiterated for the quarter," Bloom
said.
Asked whether the company was still comfortable with Wall
Street analysts' profit forecasts of quarterly earnings per
share of 18-20 cents, Bloom said: "What I can tell you
categorically is that we have no intention of warning."
Bloom said that many companies had bought a lot of storage
hardware and, facing economic pressure, were looking for better
ways to use it.
"In many cases, and I think even more so in EMC's case,
there is an oversupply of storage hardware in the market,"
Bloom said. EMC sells Veritas software, which works on many
types of storage systems, but EMC is also developing software
that competes on some levels with Veritas products.
"Software in storage is being recognized in storage as a
tool and a technique that allows companies to maximize
investment in their hardware infrastructure."
But he said that the economy was slowing Veritas growth --
the company effectively lowered its guidance for the year three
months ago by saying sales would rise 35-50 percent rather than
45-50 percent -- and could hurt it still.
It is still almost the lone fast-growing sector in the
technology market.
"We still have a bad economy which makes it difficult to do
business... Now the question is what is happening in Europe,"
he said.
"(If) Europe slows down before the U.S. starts recovering,
then I think we will be affected on a continuing basis over
time, and our rates will continue to feel some pressure there."
((Peter Henderson, San Francisco Bureau 415 677-2578
peter.henderson@reuters.com))
REUTERS
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