Ralph
08.02.2001, 22:47
Network Appliance Tops Earnings Estimate on Slightly Soft Sales
By Thomas Lepri
Senior Writer
2/8/01 4:29 PM ET
Networked storage systems company Network Appliance (NTAP:Nasdaq - news) reported fiscal third-quarter earnings surpassing Wall Street's expectations Thursday after the close of regular trading. At the same time, however, the company's sales were a hair lower than forecast, possibly reflecting the broader slowing in demand for Internet infrastructure already experienced by other companies in that sector.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based firm said that income excluding certain items totaled $38.9 million, or 11 cents a share. That figure bests the 10 cents a share that analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial were looking for, and is up 95% from the $20 million, or 6 cents a share, the company earned in the same period last year. Actual earnings were $34.1 million, or 9 cents a share, versus last year's $19.8 million, or 6 cents a share.
Revenue, meanwhile, came in at $288.4 million. That's up 91% from the prior year's $151.3 million, but about $5 million below the number analysts had been expecting.
"During the quarter, Network Appliance continued to execute on its business strategy to fundamentally change the way companies architect their enterprise storage and content delivery systems,'' Dan Warmenhoven, CEO of Network Appliance, said in a statement. "Storage is a strategic IT investment and remains a priority for today's leading corporations. We are clearly encouraged by the enterprise penetration of our new high-end systems."
NetApp makes server appliances -- mainly filers and caching devices -- for network-attached storage, of NAS, systems. Unlike the traditional server-attached storage, or SAS, model, NAS detaches data-storage devices from the servers that run applications for a network's workstations. Putting storage devices directly on a network helps alleviate bottlenecks and allows technology managers to add new storage capacity easily by attaching additional appliances to the existing network.
NetApp's single-minded focus on NAS has turned it into the prime beneficiary of the recent explosion of networked storage. The company holds more than 60% of the NAS market and has turned in 21 consecutive quarters of more than 70% revenue growth. But competition in the networked storage market has been heating up as the immense opportunities therein have become clear. New initiatives by large, established hardware companies like Sun Microsystems (SUNW:Nasdaq - news) and storage giant EMC (EMC:NYSE - news), which has vowed to be the dominant company in networked storage, have led a number of brokerages to adopt more cautious stances on NetApp in recent weeks.
Accordingly, NetApp has lost more than 40% of its value in 2001, amid fears of declining profit margins and a general slowdown in corporations' spending on technology infrastructure.
Nachbörslich kann NTAP knapp 8% zulegen.
Ralph
PS: jetzt muss noch der CC über die Bühne gebracht werden.
By Thomas Lepri
Senior Writer
2/8/01 4:29 PM ET
Networked storage systems company Network Appliance (NTAP:Nasdaq - news) reported fiscal third-quarter earnings surpassing Wall Street's expectations Thursday after the close of regular trading. At the same time, however, the company's sales were a hair lower than forecast, possibly reflecting the broader slowing in demand for Internet infrastructure already experienced by other companies in that sector.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based firm said that income excluding certain items totaled $38.9 million, or 11 cents a share. That figure bests the 10 cents a share that analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial were looking for, and is up 95% from the $20 million, or 6 cents a share, the company earned in the same period last year. Actual earnings were $34.1 million, or 9 cents a share, versus last year's $19.8 million, or 6 cents a share.
Revenue, meanwhile, came in at $288.4 million. That's up 91% from the prior year's $151.3 million, but about $5 million below the number analysts had been expecting.
"During the quarter, Network Appliance continued to execute on its business strategy to fundamentally change the way companies architect their enterprise storage and content delivery systems,'' Dan Warmenhoven, CEO of Network Appliance, said in a statement. "Storage is a strategic IT investment and remains a priority for today's leading corporations. We are clearly encouraged by the enterprise penetration of our new high-end systems."
NetApp makes server appliances -- mainly filers and caching devices -- for network-attached storage, of NAS, systems. Unlike the traditional server-attached storage, or SAS, model, NAS detaches data-storage devices from the servers that run applications for a network's workstations. Putting storage devices directly on a network helps alleviate bottlenecks and allows technology managers to add new storage capacity easily by attaching additional appliances to the existing network.
NetApp's single-minded focus on NAS has turned it into the prime beneficiary of the recent explosion of networked storage. The company holds more than 60% of the NAS market and has turned in 21 consecutive quarters of more than 70% revenue growth. But competition in the networked storage market has been heating up as the immense opportunities therein have become clear. New initiatives by large, established hardware companies like Sun Microsystems (SUNW:Nasdaq - news) and storage giant EMC (EMC:NYSE - news), which has vowed to be the dominant company in networked storage, have led a number of brokerages to adopt more cautious stances on NetApp in recent weeks.
Accordingly, NetApp has lost more than 40% of its value in 2001, amid fears of declining profit margins and a general slowdown in corporations' spending on technology infrastructure.
Nachbörslich kann NTAP knapp 8% zulegen.
Ralph
PS: jetzt muss noch der CC über die Bühne gebracht werden.