Computer Sciences Matches Estimate, Profit Up 17%
Computer Sciences Corp. on Thursday said net income rose 17% in its fiscal second quarter as U.S. and international sales more than compensated for a dip in Europe.
Computer Sciences, based in El Segundo, posted earnings of $109 million, or 64 cents a share, matching the Wall Street consensus estimate, as tracked by First Call/Thomson Financial. In last year’s quarter, ended Sept. 29, CSC earned $93.1 million, or 55 cents a share.
Shares of Computer Sciences closed up $3.13 at $65.94 on the New York Stock Exchange before the earnings were released.
Revenue was dampened by the weak euro and Australian dollar, which undercut the value of sales when converted back into U.S. dollars, but still rose 12% overall to $2.50 billion from $2.32 billion a year earlier.
CSC said the impact of the euro and Australian dollar exchange rates would trim revenues and earnings per share for its full fiscal year, which ends in March 2001.
Chairman, president and CEO Van Honeycutt said currencies would knock about 8 cents to 9 cents per share off full-year earnings, of which it would absorb about 4 cents to 5 cents by overperforming its plan for the year.
“Consequently, we currently are comfortable with an EPS range in the low to mid $2.90s,” Honeycutt told a telephone conference with analysts.
The consensus of Wall Street analysts was $2.99 per share.
Honeycutt said revenues for the full year would probably be $10.75 billion rather than the company’s previous estimate of $11 billion because of currency effects, although at constant currencies they would exceed the $11 billion target.
At a Glance
Other Southern California company earnings, excluding one-time gains and charges unless noted:
* Glendale-based Public Storage Inc. reported third-quarter net income of $75.7 million, or 37 cents per share, compared with $76.8 million, or 40 cents, a year ago. The company attributed the decline to an increased allocation of income to minority interests. Revenue rose to $196 million from $179.0 million.
