Sun Microsystems strong quarterly earnings yesterday, beating Wall Street expectations by three cents per share.
For its third fiscal quarter ending March 31, Sun reported net income of $US436.2 million, an increase of 49 per cent from $292 million a year ago, excluding one-time investment gains and acquisition-related charges. Earnings per share totalled 26 cents, up 44 per cent from 18 cents a share in the same period last year.
A consensus of analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial predicted Sun would record 23 cents per share. The results excluded a gain of $112.3 million on the sale of equity investments and $4.9 million charged in connection with the acquisition of Trustbase. Including these items, net income would be $508 million, with earnings per share at 30 cents.
Sun posted revenue for the quarter of $4 billion, up 35 per cent from $2.95 billion the year before. Scott McNealy, Sun chairman and CEO, said in a statement that Sun's business grew even during the so-called "Y2K lockdown".
Some analysts had warned that problems related to the year 2000 date change could slow IT spending. Sun's gain came amid a further dip in the technology-weighted Nasdaq exchange, which closed on Thursday at 3676, down 92.8 points or 2.46 per cent. Sun's stock closed at $77.75, down $2.25, or 2.8 per cent.