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To: BirdDog who wrote (7891)	4/17/2001 9:42:31 PM
From: SecularBull	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10934

Veritas has strong first quarter, changes outlook 4/17/2001 7:50:00 PM By Lisa Baertlein PALO ALTO, Calif., April 17 (Reuters) - Veritas Software Corp. (VRTS) on Tuesday said its first-quarter results came in on the high end of analysts' expectations and broadened its guidance in the event sales growth should slow during the year. Company shares, which initially rose about $1 from their closing price of $57.53, settled around $55.75 in extended trade on the Island system after investors digested the news. The Mountain View, Calif.-based storage management software maker said it had pro forma net income, excluding purchase accounting adjustments, of $87 million, or 21 cents per diluted share, compared with $52 million, or 12 cents, a year ago. Twenty analysts expected the company to earn between 18 and 21 cents a share, with the consensus forecast coming in at 20 cents, according to market research firm Thomson Financial/First Call. Several analysts recently had lowered Veritas' forecast after numerous technology companies blamed the slowing U.S. economy for battering sales. "This has been a really tough storm in the last six months. While the economic situation is impacting us, we believe we are weathering the situation extremely well, "Gary Bloom, Veritas' chief executive officer and president, told Reuters. FORECAST ADDS CAUTION Veritas executives said they expected sales to remain strong, but took the "prudent" step of pulling down the low end of their 2001 revenue forecast as other companies in the storage space miss their numbers and lower guidance. The company's new forecast is for annual sales growth of 35 to 50 percent, compared with 45 to 50 percent previously. Part of the company's caution is based on slowing sales at Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) and other so-called original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), which embed Veritas' software on their servers and work to sell additional software products to their customers. Those OEM transactions contributed 15 percent of Veritas' total license revenue during the first quarter. Sun Microsystems, which is Veritas' No. 1 OEM partner, in February cut its sales forecasts by more than half, citing sluggish U.S. capital spending on technology. "We've been been expecting this. You've been seeing server sales slowing," Merrill Lynch analyst Mark Fernandes said. BALANCED GROWTH Veritas, which sells software that enables efficient file processing and network back-up and protects against data loss and file corruption, said it saw balanced growth during the first quarter ended March 31. "No matter how you slice our business, all areas were strong," said Ken Lonchar, chief financial officer of Veritas. Revenue grew 58 percent to $387 million from $245 million in the year-ago period as the company grabbed market share from competitors and saw continued growth in Europe and Asia. Bloom said the company expects to hire 1,500 employees in 2001, about 300 fewer than last year. While the company has no layoffs in the works, an employee whose performance is not improved by good management could be replaced by talent that has reentered the job pool in the wake of widespread technology job cuts, he said. Including charges, Veritas had a net loss of $156 million, or 40 cents per share, smaller than its net loss of $174 million, or 44 cents, in the year-ago period. REUTERS