DEC Posts 1st Annual Profit in 5 Years

Digital Equipment Corp. on Tuesday reported its first yearly profit in five years, a result of streamlined operations and strong sales in its core computer businesses.

The Maynard, Mass.-based computer maker’s annual profit confirmed a turnaround after four years of losses totaling more than $4 billion. Last year, DEC suffered a loss of $2.2 billion, and since then it has reorganized and cut more than 20,000 employees.

DEC said its earnings for the year totaled $57.3 million, or 15 cents a share, on revenue of $13.8 billion. This was before a restructuring charge of $1.21 billion. For the fourth quarter, DEC had a profit of $160 million, or $1.01 a share, on revenue of $3.75 billion. A year earlier it lost $160 million on revenue of $3.9 billion.

Analysts said the fourth-quarter earnings were in line with estimates. The consensus on First Call, an earnings estimate service, was for earnings of $1.05 a share.

Digital said sales of its Alpha-based systems grew 32% from a year ago, driven by strong demand for servers.