Sun Microsystems Reports Record Third Quarter Earnings
Palo Alto, California - April 16, 1998 -- Sun Microsystems, Inc., (NASDAQ: SUNW) today reported results for the third quarter which ended March 29, 1998. Revenues for the third quarter were $2.361 billion, up 12 percent compared with the third quarter of fiscal 1997. Net income for the third quarter was $232 million, compared with the prior year's net income of $197 million (excluding a one-time net gain). Third quarter earnings per share was $.59, compared with the previous year's earnings per share of $.51 (excluding a one-time net gain), an increase of 16%. Including this one time net gain, net income and earnings per share for the third quarter of fiscal 1997 were reported as $224 million and $.58, respectively.
For the first nine months of fiscal year 1998, Sun reported revenues of $6.910 billion, up 14 percent compared with $6.055 billion in the previous year. Net income was $618.4 million, up 24 percent over the same period a year earlier (excluding one-time items for fiscal years 1997 and 1998). Earnings per share was $1.57, an increase of 23 percent over the corresponding period a year ago (excluding one-time items for fiscal years 1997 and 1998). Including these one-time items, net income and earnings per share for the first nine months of fiscal year 1998 were $489.9 million and $1.24, respectively.
All earnings per share amounts represent diluted earnings per share as defined within Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 128.
"We are pleased with the overall results of the third quarter," said Chief Executive Officer Scott McNealy. "During the quarter we had some noteworthy highlights. Demand for our new low end UltraTM 5 and Ultra 10 workstations, announced in January, exceeded our expectations during the quarter. We also announced our new SunTM StorEdgeTM product family, the industry's first network-centric approach to storage. Another significant event was the JavaOneSM conference which was a huge success, and drew over 14,000 developers to San Francisco last month. In addition, we announced a number of important, new JavaTM technology licensing deals with Sony, Motorola, Scientific-Atlanta, IBM, TCI, and Ericsson, all of which accelerate the use of Java technology in devices ranging from cell phones to set top boxes. Finally, we announced that Fujitsu, along with its U.S. subsidiary Amdahl, has licensed the SolarisTM operating environment for use on its Intel architecture-based servers, further evidence that Solaris continues to win major support throughout the industry."
McNealy added, "Our position amongst the enterprise application and database players and our ability to offer customers superior scaleability, reliability, interoperability and performance, consistently gets us onto the short list and makes us hard to beat."
Michael E. Lehman, Sun's Vice President of Corporate Resources and Chief Financial Officer, commented, "Despite the slowdown in business in Japan and Asia, our balanced portfolio of geographical revenues resulted in operating income of more than 14%, a record for a fiscal third quarter, which reflects the strength of our underlying business model. While we continue to be cautious with regard to the economic climate in Japan and other parts of Asia, we believe our market opportunities and competitive position are excellent."
This news release contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties. Sun's actual results may differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include risks surrounding the timely development, production and acceptance of new products and services, and Sun's ability to compete in the highly competitive and rapidly changing marketplace. These and other risks are detailed from time to time in Sun's periodic reports filed with the Securities Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, its report on Form 10-K for its fiscal year ended June 30, 1997 and its report on Form 10-Q for its fiscal quarter ended December 28, 1997.
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Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision, "The Network is the ComputerTM," has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc., (NASDAQ "SUNW"), to its position as a leading provider of hardware, software and services for establishing enterprise-wide intranets and expanding the power of the Internet. With more than $8 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 150 countries and on the WorldWide Web at sun.com.
Sun, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems, Java, HotJava, Solstice, SunScreen, and The Network Is The Computer, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. All SPARC trademarks, including the SCD Compliant Logo, are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. SPARCstation and UltraSPARC are licensed exclusively to Sun Microsystems, Inc. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based on an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. |
