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Technology Stocks : Network Appliance -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jacob Snyder who wrote (10329)	11/12/2002 11:18:22 PM
From: Jacob Snyder	Respond to of 10934

Network Appliance Meets Numbers, Looks for Modest Growth By K.C. Swanson Staff Reporter 11/12/2002 07:13 PM EST Click here for more stories by K.C. Swanson Updated from 4:45 p.m. EST In its fiscal second quarter of 2003, Network Appliance (NTAP:Nasdaq - news - commentary - research - analysis) easily bested last year's loss, posting results in the black, and said it expects mild growth for the January quarter now underway. Sales for the most recent quarter came in slightly above expectations, while earnings matched the Wall Street consensus. The company, which makes network-attached storage units, posted net income of $15.8 million, according to generally accepted accounting principles, and earnings of 5 cents per share. That's a significant improvement from last year's net loss of $11.2 million in the same period. Sales totaled $215.2 million, up 4% from last quarter and nearly 11% from a year ago. Wall Street estimates were for revenues of $212.25 million, according to Thomson Financial/First Call. Gross margins of 62.4% were flat with the prior quarter. The company said its book-to-bill ratio was "well above" 1:1. In the quarter underway, Network Appliance expects continued modest growth, with revenues expected to increase 2% to 5% for total sales in the range of $219 million to $225 million. Earnings are predicted to be in the range of 5 cents to 6 cents per share, depending on sales. Both projections are in line with Street estimates for sales of $222.6 million and a per-share profit of 6 cents. Customers "don't seem to be anxious to spend their money," said CEO Dan Warmenhoven on the conference call. In a positive sign for the company, though, management said earlier sales campaigns are bearing fruit, with the mix of customers now trending towards bigger account sizes. Network Appliance said it had hired about 40 people in the quarter for both sales and R&D jobs, leaving it with an end-of-quarter head count of about 2,390.