Network Appliance sees Q2 sales, EPS flat to up vs Q1
Last Updated: August 14, 2001 05:10 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Computer storage maker Network Appliance Inc.'s (NTAP) chief executive, Dan Warmenhoven, said on Tuesday that the economy finally appeared to have hit bottom and he expected company results to be flat or improve during the company's second quarter.
Warmenhoven told Reuters in an interview after releasing fiscal first-quarter results that he was encouraged by business in July, the last month of the first quarter.
Second-quarter sales would be flat to five percent up from the first quarter, in a range of $200 million-$210 million, he said. Earnings per share on an operating basis would be 1-2 cents, compared to a 1-cent gain in the first quarter.
Gross margin, 56.1 percent in the first quarter, would be "flattish" he said. "I don't expect to see a decline in it. It is hard to tell," he added, commenting that the company would drop prices to win deals if necessary and had discounted some products in the first quarter.
Warmenhoven said he had been wrong to forecast an economic bottom last quarter but saw an end to the economic fall now. "I really do believe at this point we found a bottom," he said of the economy, adding that Network Appliance was gaining share on competitors. REUTERS
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